Black, White, and Grey
by CatastrophicMeltdown
Summary: *H/D SLASH* When Harry receives a letter over the summer, he doesn't anticipate how much it will change his life, or his path in the war. A story about love, war, and finding your way in life. Grey!Harry, Grey!Draco, Slightlymanipulative!Dumbles. HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** This is my first chapter fic, and I would _really_ appreciate all those that take the time to review and tell me what i'm doing wrong or what to improve. To all those who reviewed my last story - YOU GUYS ROCK! Thanks for the motivation.

_Summary:_ When Harry receives a letter over the summer, he doesn't anticipate just how much it will change his life, or his path in the war. A story of love, war, and finding your way in life. Grey!Harry, Grey!Draco, Slightlymanipulative!Dumbles.

Warnings: This is SLASH, specifically of the H/D variety. If this doesn't float your boat, kindly click the back button in the upper corner of your browser screen. DON'T write reviews later on about how slash is wrong or how another pairing would be better. I'm warning you now, DON'T DO IT!

Also, there will be violence, cursing, and other such things. Once again, if this doesn't work for you, kindly press the back button an LEAVE!

**

* * *

****Black, White, and Gray**

Chapter One: A Letter

It was a beautiful sunny day in Little Whinging, Surrey. There were few clouds in the sky, and a light breeze kept the temperature from rising too high for comfort. Several children could be seen playing in their yards, or in the somewhat dilapidated playground under the watchful eye of their parents.

4 Privet Drive, however, was empty of such frivolity. If one were to look inside, they would see a woman that rather resembled a horse craning her conveniently long neck to see what Mrs. Number 3 was doing in her yard through the kitchen window. If you turned to the living room, you would see what could only be described as a humanized walrus and baby whale creating a hole in their respective chairs while glued to the game on the television. All in all, a "normal" suburban family.

At a glance, you wouldn't even know that there was a fourth person living with this family. There were no other pictures on the mantle, no extra chairs at the kitchen table. The only clue you would find was a heavily bolted door at the end of the second floor landing.

* * *

Harry Potter was sprawled across his bed with a book propped up against his pillow, quill in hand, laboriously attempting to write a four-foot essay on "the properties of Moonstone and its uses in Potion making". Occasionally he would flick his unruly black hair out of his emerald green eyes, and gaze longingly out of his barred bedroom window.

Suddenly, he threw his quill down in exasperation. "I can't do it, Hedwig! There's no way I can write four feet on Moonstone with this book. It doesn't give me enough information. Got any ideas, girl?" Amber eyes gazed back solemnly at him, wishing she could help her master. "It's all right girl, the next time Vernon says I can let you out, you're going straight to the Weasley's." Hedwig glared reproachfully at him.

Harry sighed, "I'm sorry girl, but you're not getting what you need here. You'll be better off at Ron's house." He stroked her feathers for a while, watching the beautiful day out of the window, lost in his thoughts. He cruised over the last school year; thinking of how much the sky matched Sirius's eyes, and felt a pang of guilt and pain as he remembered the surprise in them as he went through the Veil. He had grieved heavily the first few weeks of vacation, but now he was slowly working his way toward acceptance.

His peace, however, was interrupted by a shout from downstairs. "Boy! Get down here and weed the garden. It looks like a jungle back there!"

Harry sighed, but quickly changed into more yard work oriented clothes, which consisted of a pair of loose-fitting pants and a muscle tee. Aunt Petunia insisted he wear a shirt in the house, even if he always took it off once he started on the yard. He had filled out a little, and was now decently toned from all the work in the yard and house the Dursleys made him do. He was even something of a handyman, since Vernon was far too cheap to pay a professional to do the repair work around #4.

Harry wiled away the afternoon weeding Petunia's garden. When dusk had set in, Petunia called him back in after inspecting his work.

"Here," she said, handing him a sandwich, "take a shower and eat upstairs. I don't want you mucking up my house after I cleaned it." _'Yeah, like you're the one who gets on their knees and scrubs the floor till it shines and your hands and knees ache.'_ Harry quickly retreated upstairs before he was told to do something else. He bolted down his sandwich and quickly grabbed a change of clothes to take a quick shower.

* * *

The moon was a bright gibbous, and Harry was once again reclining on his bed, with his transfiguration work spread around him this time. He was trying to decipher the theory for human transfiguration when he heard a light tapping on his window. When he looked up, he saw a regal looking Eagle Owl perched just outside his window. Wondering who would be sending him mail, as his birthday wasn't until next week, he opened the window and untied the letter from the bird's leg. His name was written on the front in a clear, elegant script, and knowing that if it was dangerous it wouldn't have gotten through the improved wards, he wasted no time in opening it.

_Harry Potter,_

_I know that we haven't been on the best of terms with each other, but I write this letter to you to ask for your aid._

_It has come to my attention that my parents expect me to be Marked within the month. This I __cannot__ allow to happen. I do not wholly back their ideals like my father believes I do. I do not condone such senseless torture and violence, and while I am proud to be a pureblood, I realize that new blood is necessary to our survival. We can't all be inbred mongrels. However, I do not fully believe in all the methods and ideals of the light, but I am willing to put this aside and work with you if you will grant me sanctuary._

_If you agree, or wish to meet in person to better discern my sincerity, kindly send your reply back with Hermes. If not, simply return him empty handed._

_With utmost Sincerity,_

_Draco Malfoy_

He nearly dropped the letter in his shock when he had read through it. It took two more readings before he fully comprehended its content. Draco Malfoy – his schoolyard rival and pureblood supremacist – did _not_ want to follow in his father's footsteps and serve Voldemort and rid the world of muggle-borns and half-bloods? Even more shocking, Malfoy had written to him – Harry Potter, bane of his existence – for help in escaping the dark faction, which everyone - even his _parents_ - believed he whole-heartedly supported. It just wasn't working in his head.

He did, however, know that this wasn't a joke. The aura coming off the letter spoke of nothing but truth and desperation. Pushing Voldie out of his head in the department of Mysteries had unlocked some of his mental abilities, and he was a good enough Occlumens and Legilimens to protect his mind from Voldie's occasional attacks and tell whether or not someone was being truthful.

He tried to think the situation through. He knew it wasn't a trap, but that didn't mean that Malfoy couldn't be followed to whatever meeting they set up. He needed to choose his place and time carefully, as he didn't want Order members or Death Eaters to interrupt them. He quickly consulted the timetable he'd made on the Order's guard shifts. Tomorrow around noon would be the best time to meet, as that was when the guards changed and gave him a window to leave. Also, Mad-Eye was on shift tonight, and he wouldn't be back for another two weeks, giving him ample time to hide someone or leave #4 if necessary. And, if this thing with Malfoy came through, he would have a valuable ally in this war against Voldemort. The whole thing was risky, but it might be worth it.

Deciding the pros outweighed the cons, Harry took up a quill, found a piece of parchment, and penned his reply to Malfoy. It simply said to meet him at the park at noon the next day, and if he was confident, to bring his trunk, as he wouldn't have the opportunity to return to his manner, as it was too risky for both him and Harry to do so.

Harry tied the letter to Hermes, then watched as he flew away until he couldn't see the owl any more. He was restless that night, and didn't fall asleep until much later. He was awoken in the wee hours of the morning by a tapping on his window, and when he opened the window, Hermes dropped the note on the sill and flew off.

It was only three words, but Harry felt his heart skip a beat as he read it.

_I'll be there._

"I hope I'm doing the right thing, Hedwig." Hedwig hooted and nipped his finger lovingly in reassurance.

* * *

**AN:** Like it? Hate it? Should I continue? C'mon guys, I need feedback! REVIEW!


	2. Chapter 2

**Black, White, and Grey**

Chapter 2: Leaving Malfoy Manor

**AN:** Firstly, I am so very,very sorry this chapter took so long. I usually try my best to update in the beginning of the week, every week, but I got totally bogged down by homework and a project so I didn't have much time to work on this chapter, and its a week late. Forgive me! I'll really try to get one out every week, but its probably going to end up as bi-weekly updates until my workload eases up a bit.

Warnings:There will be slash in later chapters, particularly of the H/D variety. there may even be other slash/femslash couples, if I think it would work out in the story. If this does not float your boat, then LEAVE, and don't leave nasty reviews on the way out. Flames will be used to make smores. Constuctive criticism is much appreciated. Toodles, and enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Draco lay sprawled across his bed, trying to ignore the pain leftover from his father's curse. Ever since Voldemort had been reborn in fourth year, his life had been getting steadily worse. His father had thrown a curse his way every now and then when he had greatly displeased him, but now he was getting cursed almost daily for minor infractions. He thought it was his father's own twisted way of preparing him for his master; he knew the Dark Lord would curse his minions if they so much as breathed the wrong way in his presence.

But that didn't make him feel any better.

He'd been thinking over his life for weeks, ever since his father had been sprung out of Azkaban. He'd thought he'd been freed, his father locked away were he couldn't hurt him in a cell with nary a window to look out of. Free to live as he wanted, without the threat of the Dark Mark hanging over his shoulder, sending chilling breaths down his spine. Free to be neutral, in the gray he felt most comfortable in, fighting for neither side but for himself and those he truly cared for.

He'd been wrong.

'_This has to stop. I have to leave. I can't live my life like this, even if I'm condemning myself.'_

* * *

The sky was lit in an array of oranges and reds as the sun settled below the horizon. He'd just been dismissed from supper, and was happy to be away from his father's cold aura, enveloped in the rosy light of the sunset whilst settling himself comfortably in the chair placed on his balcony. He'd had it placed just so, so if his father visited unexpectedly he would have time to rearrange himself before his father could spot him. He'd learned long ago that to be anything less than Malfoy perfection while in the presence of his father had harsh consequences.

'_As if I would accept that beast's mark! I must have played my part well if they truly think I would be glad to be informed that my initiation shall occur within the month! I have to leave, but how? I can't go to Pansy; if I fail then she would go down with me. I have to be secure in my place before I can bring her into it. I won't put the only true friend I have into such a dangerous position unless I'm sure we would both be safe, or as safe as we can be when there's a war being fought.'_

He knew that he would not be readily accepted among the Light; he had too much darkness in him for them to ever be truly comfortable around him. The Dark was also weary of him, feeling his power but also feeling that he was not fully one of them. Many believed he ruled Slytherin because of his father's influence, and while that did play a part in their subservience to them, they felt that what rolled within him wasn't like theirs, and they kept a respectful distance. Pansy was the only one that had broken that barrier; she felt like him, that difference between them and the others that made people keep their distance, whether emotionally or physically. He'd felt others like them walking around Hogwarts, felt that brush of magic against his, but it had always been so light that he could never pinpoint just who it came from. He just hoped that Pansy wasn't being too downtrodden at home; her father could often be just as harsh as his.

He sighed, and wrenched his mind from his worries over Pansy. He had to plan, find a way to get them out of the life they were living - alive. He got up from his chair and went inside to his writing desk. He retrieved the necessary items from his desk before heading back outside. He laid the materials to the side as he wondered over who to write to. It had to be someone with a lot of leverage, and someone who would be willing to hear him out, even though they knew him only as a Death Eater's spawn. His first thought was Dumbledore, but he realized that it would probably mean a life of spying in return; he knew what had happened to Severus, and he most certainly did not want that life. Imagine getting out just to go back in! It would be a step backward from what he was trying to do. He wanted to completely sever himself from that faction of the war, and if it meant working his way through slander and ridicule from both sides, he was more than willing to face it.

His next thought was Severus, but he knew that while Severus held great support from Dumbledore, he was not trusted. He would end up in the same position as if he went to Dumbledore. The only thing Severus would be able to do for him would be to get him to work off his load as a spy.

He sighed for the second time, and laid his head in his hands, trying to figure out how to make this work. '_No one would stand for me, give me a chance. They all think they know what I am. Not even Golden Boy Potter would help me… Wait a minute, he might just – no. He wouldn't. He wouldn't trust me as far as he could throw me.'_ Despite himself, he began thinking of the help Potter, of all people, could give him. He was the scion of the Light, if anyone would be able to convince people to trust him, it would be Potter. _'I've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain. If this doesn't work out, I'll go into hiding. I can't say I'll be ecstatic, but it's better than the only other option I have at the moment.' _He drew his parchment and quill to him, but stopped after the greeting. _'What would I write?' _He paused for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to write his soul on a page. _'I have to be honest, it's the only way. I'm sure he'll know - I can feel it. I don't know why, but I can feel it's going to work.'_

He wrote through the twilight hours, trying to reveal what he truly was without showing too much. In the end, he felt it was too short, with not enough feeling. He didn't know if it was believable, if it would work, but he refused to go back through it. He called for Hermes –his own personal owl - , and as he waited he carefully folded and sealed the letter, writing Potter's name on the front. He tied it securely to his owl's leg. Hermes looked up at him as he finished. "To Harry Potter, and please wait until he either tells you to leave or writes a reply. You got that boy?" The owl hooted in reassurance, before taking flight into the breezy summer night.

* * *

He was once again sprawled inelegantly across his bed watching the moon through his open balcony doors, unable or unwilling to go to sleep, when he heard Hermes hoot outside, asking if it was safe. Draco whistled softly, and Hermes flew gracefully onto his bed. He quickly untied the letter on Hermes' leg, and read through the letter in slight disbelief. He'd actually agreed? He'd sort of felt that he would, but to see it inked on a page brought up his hope considerably. Penning his answer quickly, he turned to his owl and said, "Same person, but don't come back here after. I'll call for you if I've found somewhere safe, but until then do what you wish. Good luck, I'll miss you." Hermes hooted, before cuffing his ear affectionately as he took flight.

Draco watched him go until he could no longer see the speck against the sky, then rolled over and fell asleep.

* * *

Draco woke up only a few hours later, as the sky was just beginning to lighten. He was quickly up and dressed, and was soon darting around his room piling his things into his two trunks. One for his personal things and one for his clothes and books, the latter spilling into the previous. His room seemed oddly empty, and for a moment he felt a pang of regret for the happiness he could have had here, if his mother had been free to love him and his father did.

He stepped quickly from the room and his moment of sentimentality, going quickly to his mother's room. He stopped at the doorway, and steeled himself before going in. His mother lay peacefully in her bed, facing the door and away from the sunlight streaming in from a large gap in the curtains. Her hair shimmered in the light, and she had a small smile on her face. To him, she was beautiful.

He stepped up to her bedside, careful of waking her. His hand cupped her cheek as he laid a gentle kiss upon her brow, an old sign for good luck and safety upon the bearer. "Sweet dreams, and a good life. Be safe. I love you." He drew away and quietly walked from the room.

* * *

Once the door had shut, blue eyes opened. Narcissa quickly got out of bed and walked out to the balcony. She watched as Draco walked to the small pocket in the anti-apparition wards that only Malfoys know about, and watched quietly as he prepared to leave. Calling on the winds to deliver her message, she said, "Good luck, my son. My you find happiness in the path you have chosen."

Draco smiled as the winds gave him their message, then turned and disapparated.

* * *

**AN:** So what did you guys think? Hate it? Like it? Love it? I won't know unless you REVIEW! *waves pom-poms* Please!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Finally, chapter 3 has arrived! And at a monster 3,000 words! The big meeting scene, and let me tell you, this chappie was a real bitch to wright. I kept saying "They wouldn't do that" or "Like hell that's gonna happen!" And now here is the result of me getting in a bitchfight with my muses. And they fight dirty, too. Anyway, enjoy - and don't forget to review!

Warnings: This story has SLASH! for those of you unfamiliar with the term, this means hot boyxboy lovin'. if this offends or disgusts you, kindly navigate away from this story. And don't leave any flames on your way out, and if you do they will be used to light my livingroom fire.

Also, at some point, this story will have blood, cursing, warfare, sex, and the like. As stated before- you no likie, you no readie.

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**Black, White, and Grey**

Chapter 3: A Meeting at the Park

Harry was reawaked a few hours later by Petunia pounding on his bedroom door. "Wake up! Vernon wants his breakfast within the hour, and I've already started the stove. Don't you dare let it burn! And don't forget, after you wash the dishes you're mowing the lawn. It's far too high to be respectable."

Harry quickly checked the clock on his nightstand, and if he was quick about it he could be at the park in time to meet Malfoy. He jumped out of bed and quickly changed into his yard work jeans and a muscle tee and headed downstairs. He finished breakfast in record time, but took his time doing the dishes, knowing that Petunia accepted nothing less than perfection and would call him back to finish the job properly if the dishes didn't pass her inspection.

After making sure that the dishes were stowed in their proper places in the cabinets, Harry took off his tee and headed to the garage to get out the lawn mower. It was an older push model, and Harry briefly entertained the idea of one of the Dursleys trying to push this thing around the lawn. He could swear the thing had a mind of its own, and was vastly entertained at the picture that formed in his head. He'd been doing this since he was tall enough to properly push the mower around, and knew all of its moods by now. He moved around the lawn quickly and efficiently, getting held up only once to empty the bag. He made sure to get every piece of grass to a "respectable" height, then replaced the lawn mower in its proper area, the garage being as miraculously neat as the rest of the house. He _still_ wondered how Petunia pulled it off, especially now since he was gone for most of the year at Hogwarts.

When he was done with reorganizing the garage, he headed inside for a quick bite and a shower. But before he could head upstairs he was waylaid by his aunt in the hall.

"We are going out for lunch today, and afterwards we are going shopping. My Diddikins needs a whole new wardrobe for his new look." Harry snuck a glance at 'Diddikins' waiting behind his mother in the hallway, and had to admit that Dudley really did need a new wardrobe. After he had been suspended from the boxing team due to a combination of his poor grades and a fight with a student at Smeltings, he had lost all previous will to exercise and regained all the fat he had lost in the space of a few months. Now he had returned to his previous look of a beached whale, and his clothes were stretched over his copious stomach in a slightly sickening way.

"You will not touch any of our electronics, and no funny business while we're gone. We be gone for most of the day, and I expect to find the house in the same condition as it is now when I return. Understand?" Harry nodded, and doing some quick thinking, decided to tell his aunt now that he might be bringing someone home with him.

"Aunt Petunia, I am meeting someone today, and there is the possibility that they'll be staying here for a while. Can he stay?" Petunia narrowed her eyes. "Is he one of _your_ kind?"

"Yes," he quickly went on when he saw her open her mouth angrily, "_but_, I swear there won't be any ma – uh, funny things going on while we're here. Really, you'll barely even notice he's here. Besides, I'm sure you don't want more of _my kind_ around here, and you will if you say no. They'll know something's up." He could see the cogs turning in her mind, and anxiously awaited her answer. He hadn't really thought about were he and Malfoy would stay if the Dursleys kicked him out, but muggle London would have been the best choice, as there were too many people – both magical and muggle – in the area for them to be easily found if they hid themselves well enough. They could also go into the country, but they would have to be very careful about magic use until they made sure the proper wards were up and running to prevent detection. He was brought out of his Plan B musings by Petunia's voice.

"Very well, he may stay. But under the conditions that there is no funny business of any kind, that he pulls his own weight around here, and that Vernon says yes." Harry cursed quietly under his breath – Vernon would be a bit harder than Petunia to convince, but if Malfoy could play along he might be able to pull it off. "Okay, we can do that." He felt a bit weird talking for Malfoy when he was pretty sure he would never agree to these things, but he had no choice.

"Well, I've got to go take a shower, and I'm sure you're hungry Aunt Petunia, so until this evening?" Petunia nodded tersely and left, Dudley right behind her. He made sure to lock the door behind them, and took a glance at the clock over the mantel piece. He cursed when he saw how little time he had left; he had been hoping for a relaxing shower before meeting Malfoy, but now it would have to be rushed if he didn't want to be late.

Stripping on the way to the bathroom, he quickly showered and washed his hair. He wrapped a towel around his waist, then dried his hair on the way to his room. He rummaged through his trunk looking for something that actually fit him, and found a pair of dark wash jeans and an emerald green tee shirt that Hermione had given him last Christmas, saying "you need _something_ that actually fits you, and your school robes don't count!" Harry smiled to himself at his friend's attitude, and made a mental note to go shopping at some point that summer. He wouldn't be returning here next year if he had any say in it, and wouldn't mind having some nice clothes that actually fit him.

Finished dressing, Harry strapped his holster to his arm – a gift from Remus – and watched as it turned invisible. He attempted to flatten his hair, failed spectacularly, and headed downstairs. He grabbed a cookie from the kitchen, then left through the back door. He waited until he heard the two separate pops as his guards left for the shift switch, and hurriedly made his way down the street before their replacements could take their place. He cut through the alleyway between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk and walked with a quick stride toward the park, hoping that he wasn't too late.

* * *

Draco appeared at the apparition point in the Leaky Cauldron, and – making sure to pull up his hood – carefully made his way to Gringotts. He wasn't as conspicuous as he could have been, as there were few in the Alley at this hour, and many of those there also had their hoods up. These were dangerous times, and it wouldn't do to show your face for all to see with such danger lurking. It was a resurgence of the fear from the First War, and no one knew who to trust in such a public place.

He let out a sigh when he made it through the great doors of Gringotts, and went up to one of the tellers.

Remembering to remove his hood, he said, "Hello, I would like to exchange some galleons for muggle money, and make a withdrawal." He had a thought up a few backup plans incase Potter decided that he wasn't worth his time, the best of which being going into hiding in muggle London or the remote country side until school started up again. Hence, the need for muggle money.

The goblin eyed him shrewdly. "Very well. Follow me to your vault, Mister Malfoy. We will take care of the exchange when we return." They went down to the Malfoy family vault, and Draco was glad that his Father had yet to remove him from access to the vault, as he was sure to do once he discovered his son's betrayal. He filled the bag with as much as it could hold – which was a fair amount – and climbed back into the car. They returned to the main room, and Draco exchanged about a quarter of the bag's contents into muggle pounds. The end result was quite a bit of money, and Draco thanked the goblin for its time before pulling his hood back up and heading back out into the alley.

He didn't notice the assessing look he was receiving from the goblin at the teller. _I feel that that one is more than he seems. Perhaps there is hope for the magical world yet_.

Draco returned to the Leaky Cauldron, and was trying to decide whether he would eat breakfast now or wait until later, when the choice was taken from him by his father stepping out from the Floo with an icy expression on his face. Draco quickly stepped into a darker corner and made sure his hood was up. His father's eyes swept imperiously around the Cauldron, and Draco let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when his father swept out of the room toward the Alley.

Quickly making his way out the door to London, he threw out his wand arm and stepped back as the Knight Bus screeched to a stop in front of him.

The conductor stepped into view, but quickly stepped out of Draco's way as he boarded. "Where to?" Draco thought for a moment before remembering what Potter had said in the letter. "Little Whinging, Surrey." Stan nodded, and they gripped the railing as the bus took off.

Arriving in Little Whinging, he quickly paid for the ride and stepped off. As fate would have it, the park was about a block away down the street, and he could easily see it from where he'd been dropped off. The bus had luckily dropped him off at an alley, and he quickly removed his robe, revealing a pair of muggle jeans and a storm gray t-shirt. A pair of dragon hide boots completed the ensemble. He took a quick look at his watch, and made his way toward the park.

He was a little early when he arrived, so he seated himself on a bench underneath the shade of a rather large tree and prepared to wait.

* * *

When Harry arrived he didn't see anyone resembling Draco at first glance. He headed toward his favorite bench under the tree and saw a shock of platinum blonde hair. He stopped in his tracks and took a closer look. Yes, it was Malfoy, but not as he'd seen him before. For one thing, he was wearing muggle clothes – and though he was loathed to admit it, he pulled it off well. His hair fell freely around his face, not stiffly gelled back like he was used to seeing. But the thing that most caught and held his attention was the expression on Malfoy's face. It wasn't the usual you're-scum-beneath-my-shoes sneer, or his haughty I'm-better-than-you-and-you-know-it smirk. His face was clear, if not a little wistful, as he watched the parents playing with their children. After seeing this change in Malfoy, and feeling the emotions leaking off of him slightly, Harry strengthened his resolve and moved toward the bench Malfoy occupied.

"Malfoy."

"Potter."

"May I sit?" Draco eyed him for a moment before saying, "Of course. Make yourself comfortable. This meeting is on your terms after all." Harry eyed him sharply; this was a strange Malfoy, the one he was used to would not be acting in such a way. There was a submissive undertone to that voice, and he could tell Malfoy was uncomfortable – his shoulders had a tense set to them – and he found that he didn't like that. Not at all.

"Malfoy," Harry found himself saying, "We are meeting as equals, potential allies. You do not need to show deference to me when you speak, or in how you act. You were the one that called this meeting, and though I chose where we are meeting, you choose what you say to me. You choose what this meeting leads to. You can tell me everything or nothing, but I can't help unless you tell me _something_."

Malfoy eyed him carefully. _'Do I really want to do this? Lay out my entire soul on the chance that he may be able to save me?... I have a better chance with him than with anyone else. The Dark Lord is nothing to me but a monster, and though I'll have to answer to Dumbledore, I must admit it is the lesser of two evils… I just wish there was a middle ground that would accept me and those like me…. I must, I'll do it. I'll lay my soul on a silver platter and hope he can give me the life that I want._

"What do you want to know?" Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "Whatever you are willing to tell me."

Draco sighed. "And if I tell all?" "Then we'll see if all of you is enough." Harry winced when he realized how harsh it sounded, but it was the truth, and he refused to lie at this meeting. As long as Malfoy was truthful, then he would be too.

Draco took a deep breath to settle his nerves. "Are you a legilimens?" Harry looked at him, confused. "Yes, why?" Draco looked him in the eyes, and said, "I don't think I can tell you properly, so I'll show you, if you'll let me."

Harry was at a loss for words. Draco would let him into his _mind_? Of all things, this was most unexpected. Harry cautiously felt Malfoy's aura, and felt the emotions coming off the blonde – hope, determination, and a slight tinge of fear. Harry analyzed his own emotions, and realized that this was something they both wanted, so he focused in on Malfoy's eyes and nodded.

Malfoy carefully brought down his barriers, and Harry was hit with a wall of memories. A lonely young Draco in a playroom, toys over flowing everywhere, but a sad wistful look on his face as he wished for someone to play with. Draco learning how to fly a broom, ride a horse, etiquette, and to do simple potions and spells with instructors and tutors when it should have been his parents teaching him. A slightly older Draco, writhing under his father's curse – a punishment for embarrassing his father in front of his esteemed colleagues. Pansy and Draco in each other's arms, taking solace in each other after the abuse and neglect of their family. The sadness and pain at being rejected as a friend because he was forced to be the perfect Malfoy. The feeling of relief when he was sorted into Slytherin and realized that he had finally done something his father couldn't hurt him for. The school years from Draco's view, fear of and for his family weighing him down. Scenes of torture over the breaks, punishment for being less than perfect in Lucius's eyes. Draco's whole life flashed before Harry's eyes. He witnessed Draco being seen off by his mother that morning, and what he did afterward. He felt all the raw, stinging emotion that Draco had felt in every single memory.

Finally, the barrage ended. Harry opened his eyes and looked at Malfoy. He felt the wetness on his own cheeks, but was surprised to see that Malfoy also had tear trails down his own cheeks. Harry gently brushed them away before doing the same to himself. He gathered himself and his magic, making sure his voice wouldn't shake as he said what he had to.

"I, Harry James Potter, Scion to the House of Potter and all that this title entails, take Draco Malfoy, Scion to the House of Malfoy and all that this title entails, into my protection under sanctuary. He shall be my equal, my ally, and my friend for as long as he wishes to be so. Do you agree?" Harry stretched out his hand and watched as Draco gathered himself, pulling his magic forward, before firmly grasping the outstretched hand and saying, "I agree." Their magics briefly touched, and they both gasped as they felt the same strange power rolling within themselves in the man opposite them. They looked each other in the eyes and smiled as they intoned in perfect unison, "So agreed, so mote it be."

Their magic interlaced briefly, then separated and returned to their respective wizards. They both collapsed against the bench, catching their breaths from the ritual. When they had calmed down some, they looked at each other for a long moment. Then, Draco stretched out his hand. "Draco Malfoy, pleasure to meet you." Harry took it and shook it firmly. "Harry Potter, and the pleasure's all mine." Neither man could hold back their smile, and they whiled away the rest of the afternoon in quiet companionship.

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**AN:** So what do you guys think? Are you ready to go die in a ditch somewhere, or has my story given you reason to live? C'mon guys! Feedback and constructive criticism is much appreciated. Also, I'm a total review whore, so make me happy! REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** Hey, all. so this is the awesomeness of Ch 4. Okay, so it isn't all that awesome, but i had to give some sort of mechanizm for H and D to trust each other that no one they know would be able to criticize. So i came up with them sharing their memories and experiences with each other. it also has the added bonus of them knowing each other pretty well in a short amount of time. Anyway, tryto enjoy this, and i'll tr to get the next chapter out on time.

Warnings: see previous chapters.

I love you all!

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Chapter 4: A Chat with Vernon and Building Trust

"We should get going, Draco." The sun was just setting on the horizon, and Vernon would be home soon. Besides, he had a dinner to prepare, and he doubted that a late dinner would be a good way to convince Vernon to let Malfoy stay. "I have to get dinner started, and we have to put your stuff up in my room. It's not much, but hopefully I'll be able to leave that little hellhole soon, so we won't have to deal with it for the whole summer." His tone was hard, and Draco looked at him sharply. "Do you want to talk about it, Po – uh, Harry?" Harry smiled at him reassuringly. "I will, Draco. Soon, I promise. But for right now, I don't think I can handle it." Draco nodded, then stood and turned toward the park exit. Harry quickly followed him.

They were about halfway to the Dursley's when Draco spoke up. "How are we going to pull this off, Harry? I highly doubt that your protectors would be particularly supportive of you housing me. I am, after all, the son of a known Death Eater." Harry saw the shadow crossing Draco's face, and decided to pull him off this train before he crashed. He gripped his shoulder, and when the blonde turned around said, "Draco, I want you to listen to me." When he saw he had the blonde's full attention he continued. "No matter what everyone else believes, you and I both know that is not who you are, or who you will be. Sure, you're a snippy, snarky, sarcastic Slytherin," Draco cracked a small smile, "but you are no Death Eater. Never let anyone tell you otherwise." Draco smiled fully this time, and Harry was temporarily caught off guard at the change it made in how he looked. For the first time, Harry fully realized how handsome Draco was. He pushed the thought aside. "Feel better?" "Yeah. Thanks" This time Harry was the one who smiled. "My pleasure."

They didn't talk the rest of the way to the Dursley's. Thankfully, they got there just as the guards were switching, and quickly dashed into the house. Petunia was in the living room, and looked up as they were going by. "Is this the brat you told me about?"

Sending Draco a play-along-or-you're-doomed look, he said, "Yes Aunt Petunia. This is Draco Malfoy. Draco, this is my aunt, Petunia Dursley." Draco stepped forward and bowed slightly. "Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Dursley." She shot a look at Harry, "At least _some_ of your kind have manners." Harry ignored the jibe, and said, "What would you like for dinner, Aunt Petunia?" She shrugged, and replied, "Something Vernon would like." Harry nodded. "I'll get on that as soon as I've shown Draco my room." Petunia nodded and turned her attention back to the telly.

They headed upstairs, and stopped at the end of the hall. Ignoring Draco's raised eyebrow at the padlocks and cat flap, he led him inside and closed the door. He took in the barred window and deplorable state of the furniture before turning to Harry. "Harry, why do I get the feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg?" Harry fought with his conscience before giving in. "Because it is. Tonight, I promise." Draco nodded, then took out his trunk before saying the password to unshrink it and placing it next to Harry's.

He sat on the bed and turned to Harry. "What do you think I'm expected to do around here? And what about your people – the Order?" Harry shot him a look. "My father." '_Ah, that explains it._'

"Well, what the Order doesn't know won't hurt them. If they knew you were here they'd take you and force you to become a spy, and neither of us wants that. If you don't get too close to the windows at the front of the house we'll be good. I would keep these curtains at least partially closed at all times, seeing as my room looks onto the street. The only one who can see into the house is Mad-Eye Moody, and he isn't due for another two weeks, so we'll be good until then. Hopefully we'll be out of here before he shows up, so we don't have to worry about him unless we're delayed. As to your first question, you'll probably be expected to do everything I have to do around here. Vernon will expect you to pull your own weight, and for him that means doing a shitload of chores and making the meals. Can you cook?" Draco nodded. "I can cook pretty well, but I'm really good at desserts. And I don't mind the chores. I used to exercise last year to take my mind off things, so I'm used to working hard." Harry smiled brilliantly. "Great, we balance each other out in the cooking department, since I'm really good at the main courses. It's a plus that you can help me out with my chores." He took a quick glance at the clock. "We've got to go down and start dinner. Vernon doesn't like to wait long for his meals." They argued about what to serve as they headed down, but by the time they hit the kitchen they had decided on steak with a side of mashed potatoes and some greens with treacle tart for dessert. Draco promised to sneak some for later.

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Vernon returned home just as dinner was being set. He saw Draco in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the treacle tart and started in on Harry. "Well, boy, who is this? Another one of your freaky friends?" Harry sighed and mentally prepared himself for the battle that was about to start. "Yes, Uncle. He needed a place to stay for the summer." He quickly went on when he saw Vernon's face steadily go red. "However, I do not expect you to simply let him stay without any form of comeuppance. He will help with the meals, and do chores as well. He'll stay in my room unless he's cooking or doing chores. You'll hardly even notice he's here. Can he stay?" He could practically see the cogs turning in his uncle's head. An extra hand around the house, and only a minimal amount of food given. A win-win situation – for Vernon, anyway. "Very well. He can stay, but only under the conditions that he pulls his own weight around here and that there is no funny business going on under my roof. Understand?" They both nodded. "Now, I hope that my dinner is ready?" They both nodded again. "Wonderful. Petunia, Dudley, time to eat."

While Dursleys were eating, Harry and Draco started to wash the dishes, Harry quietly instructing Draco on how to wash them to Petunia's exacting standards. After they had put those away, they waited patiently for the Dursleys to finish so they could wash those as well, as they wouldn't be able to return upstairs until they had finished washing all the dishes. Harry took this time to give Draco a crash course on what was expected at the Dursleys' house. When the Dursleys had retired to the living room for the evening shows on the telly, Harry and Draco finished the rest of the dishes and went back upstairs.

Harry collapsed on his bed, and Draco sprawled himself ungracefully across Harry's legs. "Hey! That is not what those were there for!" Draco just stuck his tongue out at him. "Then you shouldn't have put them there." "Prat." "You know it." They both snickered quietly. They were enveloped in a comfortable silence for a while.

The stars were bright when Draco broke the silence. "Harry, you still awake?" "Yeah. You want me to talk, don't you?" "Not if you don't want to. I just get the feeling that you don't talk about the truth that often. How many people really know the truth, Harry?" There was a slight pause before he answered. "No one. Absolutely no one. Some have their suspicions, like Ron since he had to come rescue me the summer before second year, but none of them know how bad it really was. It's gotten better, but I still remember what it was like." Harry twisted so he was facing Draco. "What do you want to know?" "Whatever you're willing to tell me." Harry smiled at the echo of that afternoon. "Open your mind, Draco. Let me in."

He took a deep breath, then let down all his barriers. This time it was Harry's life flashing between them. Flying over England on a motorcycle, half asleep in the arms of a half-giant. Waking up to a woman's screech and spilled milk soaking his blanket. Watching Petunia lift Dudley into the air, then turning to Vernon with his arms raised, hoping for the same, only to receive a harsh slap across the face and a stint in the cupboard. Burning the bacon one morning, and having his arm pressed to the burner in punishment. Playing with the little soldier men he found in his cupboard, knowing he was lucky to have any toys to play with. Petunia screeching about her crushed flowers and cutting Harry across his chest with the steak knife, even though it was Dudley who had fallen into her beds. Scrunching himself against the far wall of his cupboard, finding comfort in the softness of the darkness around him, until Vernon pulled him from his comfort and threw him into the shards of glass caused by Dudley knocking over Petunia's favorite vase. Shivering on the dirty floor as the wind howled around the shack, blowing out the candles on a cake he had drawn in the dirt on the floor. Discovering the truth about his heritage, his parents' deaths, what he was. Being amazed by the splendor of Diagon Alley, the grandeur of Hogwarts. Feeling sad about the arrogant boy he had turned down, he had seemed like he needed a friend, but not one like him. All of his Hogwarts years, his adventures, his fun with his friends, even the detentions and lessons with Snape. Order Meetings. The prophesy. Watching a man with the same blue eyes as his mother fall through a veil, a look of shock plastered on his face. Feeling Voldemort's possession of him. Everything that had happened when he had sent the letter. It was all there, and he drank in every detail.

As suddenly as it had started, it ended. They both lay panting on the small bed, tears streaming down both their faces. Draco pulled Harry close, letting him cry it all out.

Finally, Harry spoke. "I've never gone through them all. Not even during the Occlumency lessons with Snape. It hurt to relive them all again." Draco held him tighter. "It hurts now, but it will get better with time. You'll even be better at Occlumency. Going through all your memories before attempting to create a defense for them is an essential step in Occlumency. I'm surprised Sev didn't tell you about that." Harry snorted. "Probably thought that I deserved to be taken down a peg. Either that or he thought I already knew that and was too arrogant to do so."

Draco frowned. "Remind me to rake him over the coals the next time I see him." Harry smiled against Draco's chest. "With pleasure." There was a comfortable silence between them.

"You know Harry, we're not that different. Both of us wishing we were living lives where our families actually cared about us, where we could do what we want without having to worry about the consequences it would have on the wider world. What do you say about living our lives, at least for this summer, without worrying about what people will say, and be ourselves, whatever that may be?"

Harry was silent for a time. "I would absolutely love that. To break free of being the Boy-Who-Lived, and get a chance to be Harry, would mean so much to me." "Do you trust me enough to run with me?" Harry looked directly into Draco's eyes when he answered. "Yes. After all, I've seen who you are Draco, and it would be kind of hard not to trust someone after seeing all of that." "I'll return the compliment Harry. For now, however, we'll need to lie low. We'll wait until after your birthday before we start planning to leave." "Why?" "Gringotts." "Ah." A pause. "It's getting late, we should rest. Vernon expects us up early." "I haven't forgotten about him either Harry." "I didn't expect you to. G'night, you prat." "Goodnight, git."

They had their first peaceful night's sleep in months.

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Remember, constructive criticism is much appreciated, so REVIEW! Well, i'm flouncing off to read and write some more, so until next time ;P

**Black, White, and Grey**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** I'M SO SORRY! I totally dropped the ball and lost track of when i was supposed to update. the past few weeks where hectic, and i just lost my thread. i can't tell you how sorry i am. i would have warned you if i know i would get swamped like that. BUT, here's a nice longer chapter as my way of saying sorry.

Also, both Harry and Draco have the same dream. that's why i made it so ambiguous.

Warnings: Later chapters will be SLASH. if this isn't your thing, kindly hit the back button and return from whence you came. Will also contain violence, cursing, etc.

Flames will be laughed at and used to roast Marshmallows. yumm.

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**Black, White, and Grey**

Chapter 5: Summer at the Dursleys'

_He looked around him in wonderment. He was in a beautiful forest, the moonlight shining gently between the leaves of the towering oaks, elms, birches, poplars. They were all calling him gently, pulling him forward; where, he didn't know, but he was content to just follow and not question. _

_After an unknown amount of time – minutes, hours, days, he did not know – he came to a clearing. In the center stood a magnificent Rowan tree, much larger than he thought any would get. Its branches were swaying gently in the breeze, calling him forward. He walked slowly toward it, wary but anticipatory. Something important was happening, something good, but he didn't know what._

_He finally stood at the base of the trunk, and felt the hum of magic in the air, on his skin. He touched the trunk, some unknown instinct pulling his hand forward. Instantly he felt the tree's life, and stared in wonderment. _'It's sentient.'_ he thought, _'similar to a human, but not quite so.'_ He was torn from his musings by a voice._

"_Hello, young one. We have waited a long time for one such as you. One with such power, such ability, and yet still humble. Tell me, are you happy with your life? And I wish for nothing more than the truth." And so he told his story, that of his childhood, of trying to live up to what was expected and wanted of him, of what it was like to think himself free, only to find the chains had been pulled tighter. He told his whole life's story to that tree, not knowing why, only that he should. It was healing, telling his story and not being judged._

_She, for the Being gave the impression of being a she, listened patiently to the tale. When he was done, he rested gently against her trunk. "You have been through much youngling, and fate is not done with you yet. You have much inner strength, child, but if you keep pushing those you care for away, you will collapse without their love and support." He had the strange sensation of being pulled into an embrace by the Consciousness. "But you are not without hope, youngling. Your Mate will love and support you like no other, if you but have the courage to seek out a life with them. They are your Twin Flame, your Soul mate, and will complete you and make you happier than any other will. Do not be afraid of how others will take to them, they are yours and yours alone as much as you are theirs." _

_She released him and he stepped back, sensing the farewell that was upon them. "Time is marching on, and sooner than you may think you will feel my call again. Do not be afraid to come. But now, the world outside of Morpheus's realm is calling, and all must heed its call. Farewell, young one. I promise we will meet again." The forest disappeared._

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Draco roused himself out of his sleep, and noticed the pink tinge to the sky. _'Vernon will be waking soon.'_ It seemed his habit of sleeping lightly and waking early was going to greatly help him while he stayed here. He glanced to his side and saw that Harry was still sleeping soundly. He carefully extracted himself from the bed, knowing that Harry very rarely slept in – not even at Hogwarts – and not having the heart to wake him after what happened last night. He was right pissed at the Dursleys, but knew that he couldn't do anything about them – for now.

Grabbing a change of clothes, he left to take a shower before the Dursleys rose. He doubted they would hear him, what with the snores coming from the other bedrooms. While in the shower, he contemplated the dream he had had last night. He could remember almost everything in clear detail; the forest, the tree, what had been told to him. He knew it would haunt him for a while. But for now, he would push it to the back of his mind. He returned to the room, and seeing that Harry was still asleep, left and went downstairs to start on breakfast. The Dursleys were waking; Vernon's rather marvelous impersonation of a chainsaw had finally ceased, to Draco's relief. He would have gotten a headache had it kept up for much longer.

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Harry was woken rather suddenly from his dream in an unknown forest by a dousing of ice water. Harry sputtered and shot a Potter Death Glare™ at Draco, who was standing a few feet away and looking rather pleased with himself. "What? It's time to get up. C'mon, up and at 'em!" Harry grumbled incoherently. "Sorry, I don't speak Troll." Draco made himself comfortable at the foot of the bed while Harry grumbled about annoying blondes and morning people. "I'll have you know that I am _not _a morning person. I wake up because my body doesn't feel like sleeping any longer. Anyway, Vernon's gone to work and Dudley is out terrorizing the neighborhood, so it's just us and Petunia for a while."

Harry grumbled and buried his face in his now soaked pillow, but then sat upright quickly, suddenly wide awake. "Vernon didn't come in here? Why not?" Draco rolled his eyes at him. "I _can _cook, you know." Harry smiled sheepishly. "Right, sorry. I forgot." He got up and stretched, his shirt riding up and giving Draco a glimpse of well-toned abdominals. _'Hm. Golden Boy's growing up. Quite nicely I might add.'_

He was brought out of his covert admiration by Harry's voice. "Are there any chores we're supposed to be doing today?" "Nope. Seems we have the day to use for our own amusements. They probably don't want to ostracize us until they know what they're dealing with. How long do you think it will last?" Harry wasted no time in answering. "Probably just for today. Once they see that we've keep to what we've said we'd do they'll start laying it on us. We should probably attempt our homework; we most likely won't have as much time as we'd like to do it."

Harry flopped back on the bed, and Draco – seeing an opportunity – sprawled on top of him. Harry sputtered indignantly and attempted to extract himself, only to fall off the edge. He stood with as much dignity as he could muster under Draco's rolling laughter, trying to ignore the blush rising in his cheeks. He smiled despite himself. "Shut it, you wanker. It's not my fault you're so huge that you crush me under your weight."

Draco mock-glared at him and put his hands on his hips, but couldn't hide the twitch at the edge of his lips. "What do you mean huge? Are you saying I'm fat?" He walked over to the mirror on the wardrobe and examined his reflection. Then – with the seriousness of announcing someone's untimely demise – he said, "Do these pants make my arse look big?" Unfortunately, he would never know the answer to his question as Harry was far too busy attempting to breathe through his laughter to answer. Eventually, he gave in and joined Harry in laughter.

A few minutes later, they had finally regained their breath. Harry turned to Draco. "Thanks, I really needed that." Draco smiled reassuringly. "No problem. I think I needed it too." Then they pulled out their books and continued on whatever homework they had previously attempted to undertake.

An hour later, Harry threw down his essay in annoyance. "I give up! Snape has won. I couldn't complete this bloody essay if it meant Voldemort's death!" Draco looked up from his transfiguration essay and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Harry huffed. "I _mean_ that I don't understand at all just _what_ the essay is about, and the fact that there's so little information in the text about it isn't helping me!"

Draco put the finishing touches on his essay, then carefully put it away while Harry paced around the room ranting about evil greasy gits and the impossibility of potions in general. Then, as Harry paced past him in his circuit of the room, he grabbed him and yanked him onto the bed, covering his mouth with his hand in the process. Harry glared at him.

"Now, you will be calm and listen to me and answer me like a human being, not like a banshee. Understood?" Harry nodded ruefully. Draco removed his hand and, when Harry didn't resume his screeching, continued. "Good. Now, what is it with you and potions in general?" Harry sighed and said, "I just don't get it. Back in first year I thought it was something like cooking, but even though I'm really good at cooking, I just can't do potions. Sure, I can follow instructions perfectly fine, and my potions come out pretty well – if there's no-one throwing unnecessary ingredients in or breathing down my neck – but I just can't grasp the theory. No-one has bothered to explain it to me – not even Hermione, but I think that she thinks I just don't bother to try. I do try! I just don't get it. I know it seems really petty, but it just gets really frustrating."

Draco, who had been listening patiently, thought over the issue. "Why don't I tutor you then?" Harry looked up sharply. "No, really. I've got one of the highest scores in the class, I tie with the mu – uh, Hermione, sometimes surpass her. I would gladly tutor you – even if you do make me feel like pulling my hair out sometimes." Harry ran a hand through his hair, and smiled at Draco. "Thanks for the offer, but I feel like I'm making out like a bandit, so what can _I_ help you with?"

Draco snorted. "One of these days, I'll break you of that Gryffindor mentality. But since I'm getting something out of it, I'll hold off on that for a while." Harry cuffed him across the back of his head. "You prat." Draco stuck his tongue out at him while rubbing the back of his head. "We can't all change overnight. And as for something in return, having someone to compete against in my quest for knowledge and strength is enough." Harry snorted this time. "And _I'm_ the one with the Gryffindor mentality. My memories must have rubbed off on you more than I had thought."

Harry dodged Draco's hand, and said, "Well what are we waiting for? This essay isn't gonna write itself!"

And so their week at Privet Drive passed in a flurry of tutoring, exercise, secrecy, and doing chores. On the eve of Harry's birthday, however, it all changed.

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It was five to midnight on the thirtieth of July. Harry was sitting in a chair pulled up next to the window, while Draco was reclined comfortably on his bed. If asked why he was staying up with a man who was his sworn archrival a mere two weeks ago – to herald his birthday, no less – he would have surprised everyone – including himself – by saying it was because he cared. Staying a week with only one relatable person could really cause them to grow on you. They had shared themselves with each other, and despite the short time they had really known each other, were strong friends.

Harry was anxiously sitting at the window, hoping that Dumbledore would actually allow his friends to send him something for his birthday. Despite the improved wards, Dumbledore was making sure there were no opportunities for those of bad motives to cause him harm – and that included sending and receiving letters, since the wards had to lower only as long as it took the owls to cross the boundary, leaving a window of opportunity for those who had the skill to exploit it.

The clock on his nightstand changed to twelve o'clock, and a moment later Harry saw the familiar shape of four owls silhouetted against the sky. He opened the window, and untied the owls' cargos as they landed on the outer sill. Harry didn't watch them leave.

Draco shifted to give Harry some room, and he sat beside him when he laid the mail on the bed.

"Anything of interest?" Harry smacked him across the back of his head. It had become something of an act of affection between them. "Of course there is, ferret boy. It _is_ my birthday." Draco snorted and reclined on the bed. There was only one in the room. They had tried to sleep on separate beds their second night at Privet Drive, but soon discovered that they slept better when sharing a bed. It kept the nightmares away.

"Who are they from?" Harry glanced at the letters. "One from Remus, Dumbledore, Ron and Hermione, and one from Gringotts." Draco sat up and grabbed the Gringotts letter while Harry opened the one from Remus. "Gringotts? That's odd. They usually don't send letters on a wizard's sixteenth birthday. Usually it's the seventeenth." Harry hummed, more focused on the letter he was reading. Draco put the letter from Gringotts back on the bed and waited for Harry to finish reading.

His eyes were suspiciously bright when he finished. "He says that he doesn't blame me for Sirius's death, and to stop blaming myself because he was there and he knows it wasn't my hand that killed him. He also says sorry for not writing sooner, but Dumbledore was making sure that no letters got through to me, supposedly 'for my protection'. Oh, and he says the gift he gave me is to give me a head start because he knows that I'm going to get my revenge and he doesn't want me to go out there half-assed and get myself killed. He – he called me his cub, Draco." And Draco was at his side in an instant, knowing that by calling Harry his cub, Remus was saying that Harry was an important member of his family. _'He's much better family than these muggles, that's for sure, even if he is a werewolf.'_

After a moment Harry pulled away. "Thanks, Draco. Which package is Remus's?" Draco handed him a rectangular package. Ripping off the cover, Harry saw it was a rather hefty book. The cover read '_Offensive and Defensive Hexes, Jinxes, and Curses: Light, Neutral, and Questionably Dark Magics._' Draco whistled. "Remus knew what he was doing. Very useful. That is a book many would love to get their hands on." They opened it and leafed through it. "It's too bad we can't use magic here. I would love to get started on some of these."

Harry shut the book and carefully put it aside. Picking up Ron and Hermione's letter, he quickly read through it. "It says pretty much the same thing about the lack of letters and Dumbledore's meddling. Since they knew Remus was getting me a book, they got me something else they thought I needed. Doesn't say what though. They hope Dumbles will let me come before school starts, but if not they'll see me September first." Draco handed him the package before he could ask. This one, too, was rectangular. Harry opened it and burst into laughter. Draco did the same after taking a peek.

After a minute they calmed down. "It seems your friends got tired of seeing you walking around in those rags. I've got to admit, whoever picked these out has decent taste." Inside the box where several shirts and pants, both casual and formal ware, though the former was predominant.

Harry chuckled. "Well, now I can get rid of most of Dudder's clothes. With the clothes from Christmas, I finally have a halfway decent wardrobe." Draco snorted. "Halfway decent? Please, scar head. Anyone who deals with me has to have an excellent wardrobe, not halfway decent. I'm taking you shopping one of these days, I swear." This time Harry was the one who snorted. "Oh shut it, you poof. You take the whole wardrobe thing way too seriously."

Draco just stuck out his tongue. At one time, he would have gotten into a pretty spat with anyone who called him on his sexuality. But since Harry had found out through a combination of his memories and a rather spectacular blowout with Dudley when he called him a faggot in a very derogatory way, they just joked around about it. Harry had revealed his own homosexuality to help Draco calm down and show that the Dursleys wouldn't do anything to them because of it – except, of course, the derogatory remarks.

"Anyway, moving on. What does the Bumblebee's say? I must say I'm rather worried over what he's written." Harry quickly opened and read the letter. He stared at it in incredulity. Draco looked at him worriedly. "What does it say, Harry? That look on your face doesn't bode well." Harry snapped out of his stupor, but couldn't wipe the surprised look off his face, despite Draco's coaching on hiding his emotions more effectively.

"It says that there is no way I'm going to be leaving Privet Drive for headquarters this summer. He says it's too dangerous. He also says that he attended the execution of Sirius's will – the goblins wouldn't let him into the reading because he wasn't a beneficiary. He hints at something going on at Gringotts, but says he doesn't want me going near Gringotts because of safety issues. Safety issues my arse, I can tell he's nervous and hiding something from me." He elaborated at Draco's raised eyebrow. "Remember about my Legilimency, and how I trusted your letter because I could feel the emotions you accidentally impressed on it? The same thing is going on here." Draco nodded in understanding. "Anyway, I'm not to leave the property, and he says he'll see me on September first." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Who does he think he is? He's just my headmaster; he has almost no control over me during breaks that I don't reside at school during. What is he playing at?"

Draco sat and thought about it for a moment. "Maybe he's trying to condition you." Harry stared at him. "No, really. All your school years, you've had to go above and beyond the call of student duty. The Stone, the basilisk, the Triwizard Tournament, last year's fiasco. It all adds up to him conditioning you to be a hero. I'm pretty sure your third year was just a fluke, but worked well into his objective all the same."

Harry sat and thought about it for a moment. After running through his Hogwarts years, he had to admit that Draco may be on to something. Seriously, what kind of protection could a trio of _first years_ get past? Very bad protection, that's what. And the basilisk? What were the odds of them – and only them – figuring it out? If there were enough clues for a group of second years to figure it out, why couldn't Dumbledore? All he had had to do was ask Myrtle a few questions. After all, how many serpents where bloody huge and had deadly yellow eyes? Not to mention that it came out of the sink. Even if he couldn't open the chamber, there were probably ways to seal it up. Plus, there was the meeting with Dumbledore after it all went down. How was he allowed back in the school? It just didn't make sense.

Third year probably _was_ a fluke. He couldn't have been able to predict Sirius breaking out of Azkaban, but he may have been able to influence what happened afterward. He was probably very glad that Hermione managed to get approval for her time turner. As for how Sirius got put away in the first place, he knew from Hermione that Dumbledore was already head of the Wizengamot at the end of the first war. He was also the caster of the Fidelus, so he would have known who the Secret Keeper was. Why didn't he do anything? To make sure that he went to the Durselys'? The possible implications from that idea had his head spinning. As for fourth year, there were so many things. Moody being Crouch Jr. (how could he not notice if Moody was supposedly one of his closest friends? Surely Barty slipped up once in a while?), his selection as a fourth champion (the Goblet was so powerful, shouldn't someone have noticed?), the cup as a portkey (surely he would have sensed the foreign magic? He was young and even he could tell if magic was very off. Surely after all his experience he would be able to tell the difference in the cup's magic? Especially after his selection from the Goblet.), but the ritual and Voldemort's return he could see him being unaware of.

His fifth year was so fucked up he didn't know where to start. Suffice to say, he could see Draco's point. Dumbledore had known of the prophecy all these years, and that codswallop about being too young made his blood boil. At the very least, he should have told him of it at the end of his fourth year. His innocence died and his naïveté was greatly lessened when he witnessed Cedric's death. Thanks to his fifth year, he had lost whatever childhood he had managed to hold on to. Innocence lost, naïveté dashed – and Dumbledore had decided to kick him while he was down by showing him that he had to be a murderer if he wanted to live and that the fate of wizarding Britain – perhaps that of the Wizarding world in general – rested on his shoulders, and his shoulders alone. Sure, he could get help, but the final act was up to him. Many would argue it was too much for the now sixteen year old, but he hadn't felt his true age in years – not since the Dursleys had realized that there was no one watching. He'd been suspicious for years, but the fact that someone else saw it too hurt him deeply. It meant he wasn't imagining things.

He looked at Draco with shadowed emerald eyes. "I see what you mean. I don't think he was specifically trying to hurt me, but I can see how it would fit. I don't think you'll get the full picture until I tell you of a prophecy, but you must swear not to tell anyone without my permission. Do you so swear?" The formal oath surprised Draco, but also impressed on him the importance of what he was about to be told. Draco replied, "I so swear." Their magic rippled as the oath took effect, and one the magic died down Harry told him of the prophecy that would hold power over him for the foreseeable future.

Draco was shocked when he was finished, but it did clear up a few points. "You know, Harry, I don't think he was trying to hurt you, just protect you while keeping you under his power." At Harry's look he elaborated. "He doesn't want you to turn away from your 'duty', so he takes advantage of your nature to put you into situations where you have to be a hero, since only you and your friends know what's going on. Most of the time your friends are lost along the way as well, putting everything on your shoulders and making you the hero of the situation. However, he's always there when it's absolutely necessary, making you look up to him and keeping you under his power and influence. He probably thinks it will help you in the long run. I'm sure he's made mistakes, not covered his tracks well enough, but you'd need inside info to work it all out. I really do think he was trying to protect you, Harry. Telling you the prophecy after all your 'conditioning' would leave you less divided, more willing to take the path he thought would be the best for you and the wizarding world. He thought it would hurt you less, and he didn't want such a powerful player to veer off his path, so this whole situation was concocted. Anyone on the outside would be hard to convince, but people on the inside – like Ron and Hermione – would be far more willing to believe."

Harry was still for a moment, trying to acclimatize it all in his head. "Okay, I think I've got it all in order. I'm kinda afraid of what's in the letter from Gringotts, what with my newfound perspective. What if Dumbledore's been hiding something big from me?" Draco slung his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Then I'll be there to keep you grounded and moderately sane."

His joke did what he wanted it to and made Harry smile. "Thanks Draco. Now, let's see what's so important that the goblins lower themselves to the point of writing me a letter."

Harry quickly scanned through the letter and Draco felt him relax a little in his arms. "It doesn't seem _too_ bad. It says that since I am the last living Potter – and a male – I come into my lordship on my sixteenth birthday over the usual 'death of the previous lord' clause. It also mentions the execution of Sirius's will, and that I should be at the bank in person to discuss such matters. It also advises me to bring someone I trust greatly as my advisor." He threw the letter on top of the others. "So Draco, care to come with me on a visit to Gringotts tomorrow?" Draco gaped at him in shock. Surely he didn't know what he was asking?

"Flies are better caught with honey, Dray." Draco quickly shut his mouth. "And I _do_ know what I'm asking you, and what it represents. I am asking you to look over my accounts with me and witness my inheritance, an explicitly trusting act. This means that I see you as one of my greatest friends and as one of my closest and most powerful allies. It means that I am willing to show you a cornerstone of my life – my livelihood, my worth. It means that you will always be a part of my life, in one way or another."

Draco took a calming breath. "Are you sure Harry? Why not someone else?" Harry thought it over. "I ask you because I feel that you _should_ be there, call it instinct or intuition. Perhaps magic is giving me a hint."

Draco ran a hand through his hair, then smiled. "I would love to go with you."

Harry's smile was blinding. "Well then, the letter says at my earliest convenience, so I guess that means tomo – uh, today. We'll leave around eleven, as that's when the guard changes. You know, I'm a little surprised that we haven't been found out yet." They both knocked on wood. At Harry's questioning glance Draco said, "Wizard tradition. Keeps mischievous magic from grasping what was said." Harry giggled and said, "Muggle tradition. Counters bad luck." Draco looked at him incredulously, and they both burst out laughing. Who'd have thought?

They fell asleep still giggling.

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Well, what did you guys think? Why don't you tell me in a REVIEW! Anyway, next chappie is Gringotts, and i've got a few surprises up my sleevies for that chapter. Hope you enjoyed this little chappie!


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** I'm back! this chapter was fun to write, even if it was really hard to try to make it tie together, both with what's happening now and what will be happening later. Anyway, i hope you guys enjoy, and don't forget to review on the way out.

To those who have already reviewed, thanks for the help and motivation. Cookies for all of you! *tries to wave away smoke* Yeah, i'll have to get back to you guys on that one.

Warnings: See Previous chapters.

Hope you all enjoy the new enstallment of _Black, White, and Gray_.

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**Black, White, and Gray**

Chapter 6: Gringotts and an Unexpected Inheritance

Harry rose with the sun, and after a moment remembered what had happened the night before. He took a moment to admire the sunrise shining through the window, then sat up and nudged Draco awake. He just buried deeper into his pillow and groaned.

"Wake up sleepy head. I want you out of this bed by the time I come back." Draco grumbled something intelligible about brain damage and Avada Kedavras, but obediently sat up while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Good. See you in five."

Harry headed to the bathroom after grabbing his toiletries. After a quick shower and tooth brushing, he returned to his room, where Draco was still half asleep and stumbling around the room in search of some clothes. After giving him a push in the right direction, Harry headed for the wardrobe. He pulled out a pair of black trousers with a dark green button-up and black wife beater to go underneath it. A pair of black boots completed the look. He figured it was sophisticated enough to pass for aristocratic while still being casual enough to wear without a robe.

Draco returned while he was trying – and failing – to flatten his hair in front of the mirror. "It's a lost cause, Harry. You might as well give up." Harry shrugged. "It was worth a shot." He sat on the bed and gave Draco a turn with the mirror. He was wearing a pair of light gray trousers with black shoes and a light blue button-up with the first two buttons undone. The opening gave a glimpse of the dragon medallion Draco always wore, though it was under glamour most of the time. He had said it was a gift from his mother. It had two dragons intertwined with each other, one black with emeralds for eyes and one with diamonds and a body of shimmering off-white. He had to admit, Narcissa had excellent taste.

When Draco was done brushing his hair to silky perfection, he sat down next to Harry. "Okay, since we didn't plan last night, and the Dursleys won't get up for at least another hour, we should do so now. You said the guards switch at eleven, but how are we going to get to Diagon Alley? And how are we going to convince Vernon to let us leave? What are we going to _do_ when we leave?"

Harry thought through these questions, Draco doing the same beside him. "Draco, do you know how to apparate?" "Yes. You thinking side-along?" "Yup. I'm not comfortable with the Knight Bus, we'll be easier to trace if we used it. Plus, side-along is faster. As for convincing Vernon, just leave that to me and play along. I'm not planning on returning to Privet Drive this summer, so we can use that as an angle to get him to let us leave. As a matter of fact, we should probably start packing." Draco waved his concern away. "It's small magic to pack. I'll do it right before we leave."

Harry blinked, then remembered about Draco's wand being off the underage grid. While his wand was freed of the Trace, they were still in a muggle neighborhood, so any big magic would set of Ministry sensors in the area. "Well, that solves that problem. We've figured out how we get there, and how to convince Vernon, but what do we do when we arrive in the Alley?"

Draco shuffled on the bed a moment, thinking it over. "Well, I doubt we'd like to be recognized; we'll be on the run from both Dumbledore's Order as well as the Death Eaters, so placing a glamour would be a good idea. I can do it as soon as we arrive at the Alley. Gringotts will be our first stop, we need to get this business taken care of before there is anymore interference – and there is a possibility that one of your Potter properties will be in good enough condition for us to hide out in for the rest of the summer. We'll just have to wing it when we get there though; there are too many possible variables for us to plan properly."

Harry shrugged. "Good enough for me." Draco shot him a Look. "What? I'll leave the planning to the Slytherin. You haven't completely removed my Gryffindorishness yet, though not from lack of trying." He said ruefully. Draco huffed indignantly, but fell silent.

After a few moments, Harry glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "We'd better go downstairs and start breakfast. The Dursleys will be up soon."

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They had just finished making breakfast when they heard Vernon lumbering down the stairs. They continued quietly washing the dishes as Vernon gorged himself. Scant minutes later they heard Dudley and Petunia also making their way down the stairs. It was time to face the music.

Harry cleared his throat, and Vernon's beady eyes looked up from his meal. "Uncle Vernon, we will be going to Diagon Alley today. If we are lucky, we won't have to return for the rest of the summer – perhaps never. There're just a few things we need to take care of. Would you let us go?" Vernon had a contemplative look on his face, weighing the pros and the cons to letting them leave. Harry entertained himself by imagining smoke pouring from his ears.

"Very well, you may leave – under the condition to never darken this doorstep again." They both nodded eagerly, they would never return here of their own free will. "We promise. We'll pack and leave now, if you want." The Dursleys nodded quickly. "Yes, leave as soon as possible." Vernon got up from the table to start getting ready for work. "Goodbye, then."

Harry and Draco shared a quick glance, before heading upstairs as quickly as dignity would allow. They searched their room thoroughly, and about an hour and a half later had all their items in neat piles for Draco to pack. It was amazing how much stuff could migrate in a week. Draco worked his magic and their stuff went into their respective trunks, which he shrunk when he was done.

A quick check of the time told them that it was almost time for the guard change. They looked at each other for a moment.

Draco broke the silence. "You ready for this Harry?" Harry looked him dead in the eyes, letting their connection open. "Please, I've been ready." They flipped up their hoods and went downstairs, leaving through the back door. When they heard the crack signaling the guard change, they bolted across the lawn and down the street. When out of sight of #4, they slowed down and headed toward the far side of the park.

They arrived in a suitably shaded copse and stopped to get their bearings. Draco took Harry into his arms, and Harry looked straight into his eyes, startled by the sudden proximity. A moment later they were gone. They both attributed the jolt they felt to the apparition.

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They arrived in a little side alley to Diagon, and quickly stepped into a shadowy overhang. Draco pulled out his wand and put a strong glamour on them; he didn't want a miscast _finite_ to completely undermine their plans. Draco now had dirty blonde hair with blue eyes over the distinctive Malfoy coloring, and Harry had auburn hair – closer to his mother's color than the distinctive Weasley red – and hazel eyes. His scar was also hidden. Even though their facial structures and skin tone weren't changed, they looked like totally different people.

Draco put away his wand. "Excellent. Make sure your hood is secure, Gringotts is to the right." They stepped from the side-alley and began making their way toward the bank.

Gringotts was busy, but not heavily so. They checked their glamours once more before going further inside. They headed to the first available desk, where a rather fierce-looking goblin sat marking a ledger. Harry had a fleeting thought that perhaps his appearance was part of the reason he was open. Harry walked up to the teller with the aristocratic grace gained by a week of Draco's tutelage.

"Hello, we received a letter about an inheritance bidding us to come at our earliest convenience. Is there someone we could talk to?" The goblin looked at them for a moment, and they kept their faces carefully blank. After a moment, he spoke.

"Very well, come with me. I will take you to the inheritance office." The goblin stepped away from his desk and walked at a brisk pace down the hall, Harry and Draco hurrying to catch up.

The goblin led them down a half-hidden side passage, and after a few minutes consisting of several turns and long corridors, came to an ornate door. It was of a lovely dark wood of fine grain, with gold and silver detailing. It was also about twenty feet high. Why goblins – who were by nature of short stature – would need such a large door was beyond Harry, but he did admit it made a pretty picture.

Their escort knocked on the door, and after a moment's wait let them in. They stepped into the room, and paused to take in their surroundings. The walls were of a finely polished dark marble, and to their far right was a window – enchanted, they assumed, since they were pretty sure they were underground – with curtains of a rich purple. Much of the furniture in the room was oak, and directly ahead of them was a finely crafted desk with an important looking goblin sitting behind it. Overall the feeling was one of both comfort and business. The goblin behind the desk waved away their escort, and motioned for them to take a seat.

After they had sat down, the goblin leaned back and addressed them. "So – who are you, and what brings you to my office today?"

Harry straightened in his chair and answered, "I am Harry Potter, and this is my close friend and advisor Draco Malfoy. We received a letter politely telling us to visit as soon as possible, as there were some matters regarding an inheritance that needed to be cleared up, as well as that I have come into my birthright as Lord Potter and there were some things that needed to be done. To whom are we speaking?"

"My name is Sharptooth, and you summarized pretty concisely what needs to be taken care of, preferably today. Before we can move forward however, we must confirm your identities. If you would allow a few drops of blood to fall on the parchment?" The goblin handed them an athame and a piece of parchment each. They carefully cut their palms and allowed a few drops to fall on the parchment. The cuts healed by themselves and they handed their parchments back to the goblin, who quickly read the writing that had appeared. His eyebrows rose a fraction, but that was the only indication that he was surprised by what he read.

"Now that we've proven that you are who you say you are, we can move on. Mister Potter, as I'm sure you read in the letter you are the last living Potter, and thus the only one to whom the lordship can go." At Harry's inquiring look, he elaborated. "You would not have been the first choice for the Lordship. It would have rightfully gone to a fourth cousin I believe, had the wars with Grindelwald and Voldemort not wiped out every Potter except those in your branch of the family tree. Don't worry; you were second in line for the Lordship, so you are not a pretender or anything like that. You are truly the rightful Potter lord. However, there is something causing a bit of trouble for us here in the Inheritance Department. If you read your parchment, I'm sure you'll understand what."

Harry took the parchment and read through it.

_Harry James Potter_

_Lord to the House of Potter_

_Heir Apparent to the House of Black_

Harry read through it again before realizing what this meant. "How? I'm not related to Sirius other than that he is my godfather. How can I be heir apparent to House Black?"

Draco beat Sharptooth to the punch. "If you look back in your family tree, I'm sure you'll find someone of Black blood in there; all the families have intermarried at some point. And Sirius _can_ do it, all you'd need was a little blood and the lord's blessing. The magic in the blood of the house – which is ingrained in the Lordship ring – will be able to sense you're of Black descent, and will test you further. If you pass the test, you'll be able to claim Lordship. And before you ask, no I don't want the lordship. You will be a much better Lord Black than me."

Harry looked a little dazed at this sudden turn, but felt a little giddy that Draco knew him so well. "Okay, I think I got that. How do I go about claiming my Lordships?" Sharptooth snapped his fingers, and out of a side door they hadn't noticed during their first run-through of the room, came two small rectangular boxes. Sharptooth plucked them from the air, and handed the first to Harry. "Simply put it on, the ring will do the rest."

Harry opened the box, and nestled in a setting of black velvet was what he could feel was the Potter Lordship ring. It was of a beautifully engraved gold band, with an emerald of astonishing clarity and color as the centerpiece, held in place by the grasp of a snake. The engravings around the gem were runic, and he felt a faint bit of power emanating from them. He gently picked it up and placed it on his right ring finger. He had the curious sensation of being scanned, but felt like he was where he was supposed to be when he felt the ring accept him.

He reached for the other box, and when he opened it he saw the Black ring within the protective folds of a deep purple satin. The band was of some sort of black metal, and the centerpiece was of a diamond with – ironically enough – a Grim curled around it protectively. This one also had runes in various places along the band. With a fair bit of trepidation, he picked it up and placed it on his middle finger. He once again felt that odd scanning sensation, though it was much more pronounced and seemed to be searching far deeper than the Potter ring had. After a few moments of discomfort, he felt the ring accept him, and gave a quiet sigh of relief.

Sharptooth smiled – a very frightening look on a goblin. "Thank Gornof _that_ has finally been cleared up." He saw them preparing to leave and held up a hand to stall them. "We have not quite finished here. Mister Malfoy, there seems to be something of interest on your identification parchment." He pulled out the parchment and held it out to Draco.

Draco took it and read it, staring at it in shock.

_Draco Malfoy_

_Disowned Blood Heir to the House of Malfoy_

_Rightful Lord to the House of Le Fay_

"House of Le Fay? Le Fay, as in Morgan Le Fay? But how?" Harry grasped Draco's hand unconsciously, trying to bring him back under control. It worked, and after a moment Draco was back under some semblance of control. Neither of them minded that the other didn't let go.

"How on earth am I the heir to the line of Le Fay? The line hasn't been claimed for over a thousand years, not since Ygraine Le Fay passed into the Summerland with her dead child cradled in her arms! How can I possibly be the heir?" Sharptooth waved a hand, and out of the bookshelf behind him came a slim volume. He glanced through it before speaking again.

"It appears that Ygraine had a sister a decade her junior. For reasons unknown, she washed her hands of her family and married an up-and-coming pureblood fresh out of France by the name of Malfoy. He knew of her heritage, and promised to keep it their secret, telling his firstborn son before he died, who told his, and so on. Since the Malfoys have a history of only having one or two children, the tree didn't expand all that much. And since your branch of the tree has the strongest blood connection, as well as you having passed whatever other preliminary criteria was needed, you are the rightful heir to the Lordship of the House of Le Fay. Ah, here it is." Harry and Draco leaned forward slightly before checking themselves.

"About five hundred years ago, Octavius Malfoy took a good look at his family and didn't like the path they were heading down. Most of the family had been wiped out by a combination of the War of the Roses – there is a wizarding side to it Mister Potter – and a virulent epidemic disease that ravaged wizarding Britain years before. He saw what was left of the family going down a darker path, and in an effort to preserve the Le Fay name and way of life, disowned anyone who did not walk the path of the Gray from claiming the Le Fay lordship. Congratulations Mister Malfoy, on finding your own path."

Draco seemed to blank out for a moment, and Harry grasped Draco's hand a little harder. He watched as Draco took a deep breath to pull himself together, and watched him carefully as he spoke to Sharptooth. "I would like to see the ring, if you would be so kind." Sharptooth smiled and snapped his fingers, and another box flew out of the side door. This time it landed directly in Draco's lap, and he opened it nervously.

Inside was a ring on red velvet, made of what appeared to be platinum but Draco identified as mithril after a closer look. Its gem was of an astonishing blue sapphire with amazing clarity, held in the protective embrace of a dragon that held a distinct resemblance to the dragons on the medallion around Draco's neck. The runes around the band were more graceful and angular than wizard runes, and Draco had the feeling that the runes were probably of elfish origin. It was beautiful.

Draco picked it up and put it on his right middle finger. The sensation was uncomfortable, but after the test he had the distinct feeling of coming home, that this was one of the places he belonged.

"I believe congratulations are in order, Mister Malf-" Draco cut him off. "Is it possible to take the name of my Lordship first, over my birth name? I would like the Malfoy to remain, but only as a secondary to Le Fay." The goblin pulled out a piece of parchment. "Since the Le Fay name has been signed into the Malfoy name by marriage, you will have to sign this to reinstate the line as independent of the Malfoys'."

Draco quickly signed the paperwork after reading through it, and Sharptooth handed them their portfolios for their estates and liquid assets. Draco nearly choked when he saw the amount in his vaults. "It's been gaining interest for five hundred ears, Master Le Fay." Harry eyed his own portfolio in astonishment. "Good business skills, Master Potter. Your grandparents and mother had good heads on their shoulders." Harry gulped, "Right."

It was going to be one hell of a meeting.

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An hour later, they walked out the bank with a slightly unsteady gait. After all the surprises and setting their estates in order, they were mentally exhausted. And to think, it was only about two in the afternoon! Harry and Draco each had a key on them; Harry's was for the Potter ancestral home, and Draco's was the same for the Le Fay. The keys to their other properties were safely ensconced there, so they only had to keep track of the one for each. Placing the keys would revive the old blood wards, and they needed all the shielding they could get. Afterwards, they would only need the Lordship rings to enter any of their properties. Convenient, to say the least.

They made their way to a fairly discrete side alley. Draco turned toward Harry. "Potter?" Harry nodded. "It's likely to be in the better condition. That one's only been uninhabited for a generation; yours has been left for centuries." Draco shrugged. "As long as there's a bed and a nice long nap in my near future. Lead the way." Harry focused on the location, and they disappeared in a barely audible pop.

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So, What did you guys think? i would love to know in a review! Also if you guys are confused about anything, just say in a review or PM me. i'll answer to the best of my abilities.

TTFN! see you in another two weeks! (hopefully earlier, if i can pull it off.)


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:** Woot woot! Chapter 7! yah, i don't know where some of the scenes in this chapter came from, they just jumped me and i couldn't get away. Anywhoo, the long awaited get together scene is in this chapter. i was originally planning to have them get together later in the summer, but then this scene jumped me and wouldn't let go. Can't say i'm sorry though. ;P

Warnings: Mild sexual situations between two males. i have warned you before, and if you haven't left yet - it's not my problem. Later in this fic there will be violence, cursing, etc. Don't say i didn't warn you.

So, Read and Review. Hope you enjoy Ch 7 of Black, White, and Gray!

'_Blah' – _Harry's thoughts

'_Blah'_ – Draco's thoughts

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**Black, White, and Grey**

Chapter 7: Potter Manor

They arrived outside a beautifully wrought iron gate. On either side was a wall that extended for ages, or at least far enough that they couldn't see where it ended. Harry walked up to an indentation where a keyhole should have been, and touched his Potter ring to it. After a moment, the gate slowly opened silently. Harry and Draco stepped through it, and it shut behind them. They followed the path, not really caring where it went as long as there was a bed there.

They did take notice of the scenery though. For about a mile past the gate was a thick forest, creating a towering wall of green on either side of the path. Once out of it, there was a vast field that surely extended for many, many acres. They could also see how the forest surrounded the edges of the fields, and they guessed they were somewhere near one of the major forests – probably far to the north, judging by the drop in temperature and the types of trees they saw. They could also see mountains rising from the forest in the distance, so they guessed they were somewhere in or near Scotland. The path they were on cut through the field, and a fair distance away they could see a magnificent manor set atop a small hill. They could see it was of gray stone, and the wings coming off the main structure seemed to give both an impression of order and being built as they went along. They quickly resumed their trek once they saw their destination, silently cursing the paranoia of the Potters in making such strong anti-apparition wards; not even the Lord would be able to apparate through them.

At least an hour had passed when they came to the great wooden doors of the manor. Harry stepped up to the door, and touched his ring to the door in the same manner he had to the gate. They heard the sound of locks being disengaged, and the doors slid open without a sound. They quickly stepped inside, both excited and apprehensive. The first thing they saw was a great layer of dust.

Harry saw Draco scrunch his nose in that adorable way of his. '_Adorable? Where did _that_ come from! He's not adorable, he's smokin'. Wait, WHAT! No, no no no no no. I can't think of my friend like that even if he is gay.'_ He'd had an attraction for the blonde for the past few days, but knew he wouldn't do anything about it; he didn't want to ruin the friendship they had. Actually, if he was honest with himself, he had held that attraction for him since he had seen him smile a genuine smile that day they had met at the park. He was thrown off this train of thought by Draco's voice.

"Merlin! They must have liberated their house-elves for the Manor to be in such a deplorable state." Draco continued when he saw Harry open his mouth to ask. "Many old families merely send away their elves for a time, and the elves return when the family magic tells them it is safe to do so – in your case, when Voldemort vanished. They would have been making sure the estate remained in top condition for the Lord's return. Judging by the layer of dust they have not returned, and the only reason they would not return was if they were freed and thus no longer had any connection to the Manor or its magic." He paused and surveyed the dusty entrance hall. "I wonder why they did that thought."

Harry shrugged. "Don't know, and right now I don't care. What I _do_ care about is where the master bedroom is, since right now I want I want nothing more than to go to sleep." Draco turned back to him and cast a quick _scourgify_ on the hall. It didn't get rid of all the dust, but it was a start.

"Well, the master rooms are usually on the top floors, but I have no idea which wing they would be in." Harry shrugged, and was about to suggest traipsing about the manor in search of _any_ bedroom when his Potter ring gave a slight pulse and he just _knew_ where the master's rooms were. "C'mon, they're this way." Draco looked at him confused for a moment, then slapped himself on his forehead. "The ring?"

"Yup." Harry had a bit of a goofy smile; it never stopped amazing him that Draco let his guard down around him. Around others, Draco was the Slytherin Ice Prince they all remembered, but around Harry he was Draco, and that pleased him to no end.

Harry walked toward the north wing, turning on torches as he was too lazy to open the curtains, and Draco followed next to him, casting cleaning spells the whole way. They eventually reached a large staircase, and began making their way up. They stopped on the top floor, and Harry made a mental note to explore the attic, as he saw a small half-hidden staircase heading still further up. About half way down the long corridor, Harry stopped at an ornate wooden door. He touched the door, and after a pulse from the ring told Draco, "This entire floor is for the use of the master and his life partner. This door leads to the study, and the one we passed a bit earlier to an intimate drawing room, for use by the master and his close friends. A bit further and on the opposite side of the hall are the bedrooms."

Draco turned and continued down the hall, stopping at the door Harry had mentioned. He quickly opened it and gasped. Harry went to his side and gasped as well when he saw what was in the room.

The torches had lit as soon as Draco had opened the door, illuminating the elegant and rich bedroom. It was of a rectangular shape, and on the far wall were the windows, currently blocked by heavy but elegant curtains. The whole place was as covered by dust as the rest of the manor, but a quick cleaning spell later and they could see the full scope of the bedroom. On the wall to their far left was a king-sized four poster bed of mahogany, with lovely silk hangings of sheer white – a direct contrast to the deeply red bedclothes. Under their feet was an oak floor, covered in various places by luscious floor carpets. There were also two medium-sized mahogany desks placed underneath the windows – one each for the master and mistress they supposed. To their right was a large fireplace, and on either side of it a large bookcase filled with books. The walls were covered in various places by paintings – of landscapes, thankfully. They didn't even want to think of previous owners being peeped on by portraits. The wardrobes were tucked away in the corner to their immediate left, near the beds. There was also a door that they presumed led to the bathroom.

Harry merely gaped at first, then cleared his throat. "Um, it's nice?" Draco looked at him like he had offered him a lemon drop with a twinkle in his eyes. "NICE? This is bloody amazing! Just as good as you would find in a manor like my father's. It's in excellent condition too. There must be some kind of spell work to prevent damage."

Harry beamed. He'd been a bit worried about Draco not having the lifestyle he was used to over the summer. "Great! Now, I don't know about you, but I'm hitting the bathroom. Mind making sure the room's livable while I take a shower?" Draco shook his head and set about making sure the room was sufficiently clean and didn't hold any nasty surprises. Harry had him unshrink his trunk, and he took out his toiletries and hit the shower. Five minutes later, he walked out slightly wet with his shirt in his hands about to be put on to see Draco half-undressed and bent over his trunk in search of his pajamas. Harry's breath caught; he hadn't seen Draco often without his shirt at Privet Drive, and the glow from the fire Draco had lit in the fireplace seemed to heighten his beauty and unconscious sensuality. _'Beautiful and – Merlin – so sexy_ He didn't mind the view of his arse and muscular back much either. Evidently, the exercises they had done to stay conditioned had _very _nice side effects. He tore his eyes away before his 'problem' could get worse and focused on the fire to get that image of Draco out of his mind.

Thus, he didn't notice Draco turn around and face him.

* * *

Draco straightened and turned around to face him, about to ask him if he knew where he'd packed his pajamas. He only got as far as opening his mouth when he saw Harry. His hair was still dripping slightly, and it ran down his bare muscular chest and abdomen in rivulets that Draco had the nearly irrepressible urge to lick. _'Oh Merlin, I try to ignore the attraction I have for him and he comes out looking like _that_. Is he _trying_ to kill me? This is the reason I started avoiding him after his showers. Mmm.'_

His eyes followed a drop of water that fell from Harry's hair and dripped down to the waistband of his pajamas. His eyes followed hungrily, irrationally wishing that he was that oh-so-lucky water drop. His eyes trailed further downwards, and he saw the slight tent in Harry's bottoms. He eyes flashed to Harry's face in shock. He saw Harry's face averted toward the fire, a slight blush on his cheeks. He didn't miss, however, the look of hunger and desire in Harry's eyes as he gazed into the flames.

He made up his mind then and there that he wanted Harry and that he was going to try and catch him, because he wanted that adorable, hot, strong man with a heart of gold to be his, and he'd be damned if he didn't at least try.

* * *

Harry blocked out all else but the fire, trying to think of non-arousing things to lower his hard-on, but that image of Draco kept popping into his head. _'Ugh, this is _not_ helping! Get out of my head Draco!'_ He finally felt it wilt in his misplaced anger, and felt it was safe to turn and look at Draco. Big mistake.

Draco was looking at him with an absolutely sinful smirk on his face. "Was that for me, Harry?" Harry felt his face heat up and he took a step back as Draco started to move forward. "Well, was it? Did you like me bent over, displaying myself to your wandering gaze?"

Harry was mortified at being caught with a hard-on by the same friend who was the cause of it, and nodded embarrassedly. His hard-on had also sprung back up at seeing that sexy smirk, and it twitched at the voice Draco was using; it was like liquid sex.

Harry hadn't been paying attention to where he was backing up, and he felt his back hit one of the posts on the bed. Draco took advantage of his quick distraction and pinned him there with his body. "Do you want me Harry? Is this only hormonal, or is it because you like who I am, because you care about me?" He pinned him with a fierce stare, "Tell me, Harry."

Harry was breathing raggedly. Having Draco so close, brushing against him if he shifted too much, was wreaking havoc with his thought processes. _'Oh Merlin, if he's only teasing me and this means nothing and is some sort of twisted joke-'_ But he looked into Draco's eyes and saw desire and determination and a grudging happiness, as well as something he couldn't quite identify that warmed him and told him that Draco wasn't playing games.

He gasped out, "I care about you Draco – I wouldn't play games with your heart, not after what I've seen of it." And then he was being kissed, and oh sweet merciful Merlin it was wonderful. Draco's lips were so soft but demanding, and he just lost himself in feeling. Draco ran his tongue across his lip, causing him to gasp in surprise and sensation, giving Draco leave to plunder his mouth, exploring every nook and cranny, memorizing his taste. Then he felt Draco begin to retreat, and he pulled away reluctantly.

They were both gasping, and Harry could feel Draco's hardness against his leg. "Happy to see me Draco?" Draco smirked, causing Harry to go slightly weak in the knees. "As a matter of fact, I am _very_ happy to see you." He smiled – Harry fought to stay standing – and sighed, sitting down on the bed and gesturing for Harry to join him. Harry quickly did so.

"Harry, do you want to be with me? Do you want us to try for a relationship with each other, despite our pasts, and what those we know might do or say?" Unbidden, the words of a faded memory of a dream came to both of them. _**'Your Mate will love and support you like no other, if you but have the courage to seek out a life with them. . . they will complete you and make you happier than any other will. . . do not be afraid how others will take them, they are yours and yours alone as much as you are theirs.'**_

Harry nodded fiercely, "Always and forever, no matter what." He didn't know where the words came from, but he didn't care one bit when he saw the beautiful smile on Draco's face. "Always and forever, no matter what." And Draco was kissing him again, but this time Harry took charge, deciding that Draco's rather prominent erection needed dealing with, as well as his own. He pushed Draco back onto the bed, and straddled him. They both hissed when their clothed erections came into contact. Harry opened his eyes, staring directly into Draco's own desire-glazed eyes, and let his barriers drop fully and completely. Draco stared back, also letting all of his barriers down. Their minds meshed, and they could feel each other's pleasure and emotions, and allowed the bond between them – forged that first day when they had shared their memories and minds with each other – to deepen to a new level.

Harry ground down on Draco, both of them moaning loudly at the spike in pleasure – both their own and the other's. They rocked together, slowly at first, then faster and faster and harder and harder until they both came, screaming each other's name.

Harry collapsed on Draco, who wrapped his arms around him in a comforting embrace. After a while, they broke away only long enough for a cleaning spell and to get underneath the covers. They slept without dreams that night.

* * *

Harry woke up to the feel of strong, muscular arms wrapped protectively around him. He stiffened for a moment in shock, then remembered what had happened the night before. His cock twitched slightly in memory, and he blushed as he felt Draco's answering hardness rub against his arse when he shifted. He felt slightly worried about the fact that their relationship already had a sexual aspect to it, but he trusted Draco and knew him so well that he had a really strong feeling that this wouldn't destroy their relationship like he had seen occur to his classmates so many times.

He shifted slightly to get a look at Draco's face; he always looked so peaceful and beautiful while he was sleeping. He brushed a lock of hair aside, settling down into Draco's embrace and watching his peaceful face. He was asleep in minutes.

* * *

The next time Harry woke up, it was to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. He smiled a little and stretched, letting his gaze rest on the now open curtains. It really was a magnificent view. The windows faced south, and he could see the vast expanse of the fields in front of the house; as their room was on the top floor, the roof of the manor didn't get in the way. He could even see the edge of the forest they had first entered the property through. The morning light added a sense of picturesque to the scene.

Rolling himself out of bed, he went to his trunk to find house clothes – which today consisted of a pair of jeans and a black wife beater. They had their work cut out for them if they were going to make this place livable. He sat at one of the desks admiring the view while waiting for Draco to finish his shower. He also fingered the key he had placed on the desk. They needed to make sure the wards were up and running before they could start on anything else. They had already delayed long enough.

He heard the shower shut off, and gathered his things before heading toward the bathroom. The door was unlocked, and he walked in. Draco was brushing his teeth – a muggle habit he had picked up at the Dursleys' – and was wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. Harry walked up and gave him a peck on the cheek, then started brushing his teeth. Draco gave him a kiss when he had finished, then walked out to give him some privacy. He snorted when he realized how domestic Draco was acting, since he could tell that Draco had just fixed the bed by the slight pulse of magic, and that he was going downstairs to start on breakfast. He hoped there were some damn strong preservation spells on that pantry. He didn't even want to think of what could be in there otherwise.

He finished his shower, got dressed and did a quick brush of his hair before heading down stairs to see what Draco had managed to cook up. He was pleasantly surprised when he arrived at the intimate dining hall, guessing right that Draco wouldn't want the reminder of his old life by eating in the formal hall – like had occurred so many times at Malfoy manor, even if it was just him and his parents.

But the spread was what shocked him. Pancakes, kippers, pumpkin and orange juice, toast and cereal – it was like a small piece of Hogwarts on his table. He immediately set to work demolishing the food, having discovered that he was ravenous. Draco sat next to him, putting away nearly as much as Harry. Hunger sated, they sat at the table planning out their day.

"First, we have to get the wards up. We've left them for long enough as it is." Draco nodded in agreement. "I agree completely. We can take care of everything else after we've made sure the place is safe from outside interference. Where is the ward stone room?"

After a pulse from the ring, Harry answered, "Follow me."

They left the dining hall, heading toward the main stairway at the back of the Entrance Hall. It started out wide at the bottom, narrowing until it reached the first story, where it stopped narrowing but continued upward in a sweeping spiral. Harry led him toward the stairway at an odd angle, eventually leading him to a tapestry to the side of the stairwell that he pushed aside to reveal a large oak door. It opened at a touch of the ring, and he followed Harry down the hallway, noticing that the door closed behind them. '_Great. Why do I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen?'_

"Probably because it is. The magic is weird here. Not bad, but not I've only felt this kind of magic rarely. It feels very much like ours."

Draco stared. Harry shifted uncomfortably and said, "You were broadcasting."

Draco shook his head. "No I wasn't. My shields are up full strength." Harry took his turn to stare. "You don't think – last night, I'm sure you felt it?" Draco nodded. "The deepening of the connection? I felt it, but didn't think anything of it. I _was_ rather distracted." Harry blushed but plowed onward resolutely. "This could be useful – we can communicate while still keeping our shields at full strength." He turned and continued down the hallway. "We'll discuss this development later." Draco followed, taking a good look at Harry's delectable arse. "And stop staring at my ass!" Draco snickered but obeyed.

They went through a few doors and up and down a few stairs – it turns out this area was something of a wizarding equivalent of a muggle bunker. Finally, they reached a dead end. An ornate archway was overlaid an otherwise normal wall. Draco paused but Harry grabbed his arm and yanked him forward. They had the odd feeling of falling through a wall of water and being turned upside-down and then right-side up, but when they arrived on the other side they were still in the same condition as previously.

There was a small pedestal in the center of the room. In various strategic areas of the room were the main ward stones of the property – the keystones to the various facets of the warding scheme. They had a rather weak glow about them, and Draco knew that meant the wards were very weak. Harry pulled out the key that was the keystone to the warding scheme and walked up to the pedestal. He felt a pulse from the ring, and cursed when he realized that he didn't have a knife to cut himself with, and it was very unwise to use magic in this room.

"I don't have a knife, and performing magic is unwise in here. Do you see any knives around here?"

Draco, lifesaver that he is, saw the cleverly hidden athame at the base of the pedestal, and pointed it out to Harry. Harry picked it up carefully, and made sure that the key was balanced in his palm before slicing across it. He hissed at the sting but ignored it in favor of finding the spot on the pedestal the key was supposed to go. There was a depression in the pedestal, and he slammed the key into it, letting the pressure this caused make the blood flow more fiercely into the 'bowl'.

Draco felt the increase of magic in the room, and reveled in the feel of it dancing across his skin. The ward stones glowed with new life, almost blinding him. Then the magic in the room calmed, and Harry swayed dangerously on his feet. The key remained on the pedestal, glowing faintly. The ward stones around the room also glowed with vigor. He pulled his hand away – now healed with a very faint white scar on the palm – and turned toward Draco.

"Wow." And then he collapsed into Draco's waiting arms.

* * *

Yeah, sorry about the not-so-cliffy cliffy. Hope you enjoyed this instalment of B,W, & G. if you did, didn't, have some new ideas, or are just plain confused, tell me in a review or PM. Thanks for sticking around so far!

Remember... REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:** Mid-terms snuck up on me and hit me hard, so i am - once again - sorry for my lateness. There is no other excuse for my failure at punctuality, so i won't bore you with any of _that_.

Anyway,this chapter was originally going to cover at least a third of their summer at the manor, but then Pansy came stomping in demanding to know why i had left her almost completely out of the story while her best friend needed her, with Hedwig and Hermes backing her up, and i couldn't ignore that could I? Therfore, the summer at Potter manor will have two or three more chapters after this one, and then they'll get back to Hogwarts. I'm sorry for the slower pacing, but there are quite a few plot points that need to be covered before we hit Hogwarts.

Anyway, thanks to those who take the time to read and review, and hopefully the next update will actually be on time.

Tata, and enjoy the chapter.

Warnings: Slash, specifically of the Harry/Draco variety. If you haven't already figured that out - something's wrong with you. Violence, warfare, blood and gore, profanity, sexual situations, etc in later chapters. If this doesn't work for you, LEAVE!

'_Blah'_ – Harry's thoughts

'_Blah'_ – Draco's thoughts

**

* * *

**

**Black, White, and Gray**

Chapter 8: Cleaning House and a Friend's Missive

Draco cursed as he caught Harry. He'd been afraid that the wards would drain him when they reset them. He picked Harry up bridal style since he was still wary of using magic in the ward stone room and headed back toward the archway, noticing the athame was back where he'd found it. Looks like the founders knew what they were doing when they were planning their schemes.

He walked back through the archway, feeling that same topsy-turvy sensation as the first time he went through. He raced through the hallways, glad he had paid such close attention to where they were going the first time through, and eventually arrived back in the entrance hall. He headed for the north wing, following the trail of cleaned hallways to guide him back to the master rooms.

When he arrived he gently placed Harry on the bed, and then ran a few diagnostic scans he had picked up in his reading on Harry. He was suffering from a sudden magical depletion, and slight blood loss. He sighed in relief – nothing a little rest, a potion, and some food wouldn't cure. Since he was pretty sure Harry wouldn't be waking up soon, he headed downstairs to start on a meal for when Harry woke up. The blood replenisher was in his trunk – he would give it to Harry when he got back upstairs.

He threw together a meal of soup and some sandwiches, then put them on a tray, charmed it to stay warm, and headed back to the room. When he got there he placed it on the bedside table and went to his trunk for a small dose of blood replenisher and pepper-up. When he found them he went to Harry and opened his mouth to pour in the blood replenisher and then the pepper-up, massaging his throat gently to help him swallow. He ran another scan when he was done, and sighed in relief when he saw the readings inching their way back to normal.

He pulled up a chair and prepared to wait.

* * *

Harry woke to the feeling of warmth and the smell of soup. He heard deep steady breathing to his left, and when he opened his eyes he was met with platinum blond hair. Draco had fallen asleep, right hand holding Harry's left and his free arm pillowing his head. Harry smiled and ran his free hand through Draco's hair. He _still_ wondered what Draco used to make his hair so perfect, since he knew first-hand that Draco suffered from bed-head just like everyone else, yet when he walked out the bathroom his hair fell around his face in perfectly controlled strands. He made a mental note to ask Draco about it one of these days.

Draco shifted into his hand, seeking more contact, and Harry laid a gentle kiss on his lips. Draco stirred a little, and eventually his eyelids fluttered open to reveal sleep-blurred storm grey eyes. Draco shot up – fully alert – when he saw the emeralds looking back at him with amusement shining in their depths.

"Harry! You're awake!" Draco immediately got up and went to fetch the tray. He placed it gently on the bed, then sat back down while Harry tucked in. He finished in near record time.

"So, care to explain what happened to have fussing you over me like Madam Pomphrey?" Draco glared at him.

Harry raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, you make a very sexy nurse."

Draco just rolled his eyes. "Well, the wards drained you more than you were prepared for and you collapsed from the drain on your magic and the slight blood loss. I got you back up here, went to make your meal, and gave you the potions when I got back up here. I guess I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up."

Harry grinned. "Aww, thanks for taking care of me babe." Draco had a very slight blush on his face, but he was pleased none the less. "Oh, quiet you. Since you're obviously feeling better, what should we do about the condition the manor is in? Should we start reconnaissance on what we can do around here?"

Harry nodded and picked up the tray. They headed down to the kitchen, and Draco filled him in on the condition the kitchen and its nearby rooms were while making a light lunch for later.

"The kitchen is in excellent condition, as are the two dining halls. I've already hit them with a few cleaning spells – got to them before I started breakfast. The cellar is still pretty dusty, but it's almost completely wine and such, so it's not as important to get to. Pantry is fully stocked, as is the icebox. Damned strong preservation spells, and I'm grateful for them. As you can see, the hallways to the master are cleaned, but everything else is a mystery."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I think we should hit the Entrance Hall first, get rid of all the extra dust your first spell didn't get rid of. Then we can hit the major rooms – you know, the drawing rooms, the main parlors, perhaps even tackle the library. Later on we'll tackle the rest of the master's rooms. Maybe we'll get to the other rooms tomorrow, unless you wanted to take those on today?"

Draco nodded. "Don't forget we'll also have to check out any greenhouses and gardens we may have on the property, as well as seeing to the fields. It has been quite a few years since they were tended, but if we put some work into them they can still yield. We can get to that tomorrow."

Harry gave him an odd look. "How do you know if this land used to yield crops?"

Draco shrugged. "Because even though it's been years, the land still bears the signs of having been farmed. Apparently, the Potters made sure that they were self-reliant – there's no doubt with the size of the fields that they would have been able to support a fully occupied manor for at least a season. The practice used to be common among older families, but it has greatly fallen out of practice in recent times – what with the huge amount of commercial agriculture. Even Malfoy manor no longer uses its fields for agriculture. Nowadays the fields are there for their aesthetic pleasure."

Harry nodded, lost in thought. "It's actually not a bad idea to cultivate a few crops. It will keep us from having to venture out as often, as well as give us something to do once the house is in order." His face darkened. "Plus, it would be a good idea to have a perfectly self-sufficient safe house in case things go badly out there."

Draco sighed, his face turning a little dark as well. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but you're right. Let's get started on the Entrance Hall before this conversation gets any darker." Harry nodded and pulled out his wand, heading into the entrance hall. Draco joined him and they cast several strong cleaning charms that would not only thoroughly clean the place but also help prevent it from getting dirty again too quickly.

When finished with the entrance hall, they explored a few of the rooms and corridors branching off of it. They found two parlors – one of which was absolutely huge –, two drawing rooms, the servants'/house elves' quarters, and several small guest rooms. Casting cleaning charms on all of them, they ventured up into the second floor where they found more guest rooms, a few sitting rooms, a drawing room, and another parlor. On the third floor they found more of the same, though they were getting more opulent as they headed upwards. They also found an absolutely huge library that took up part of several floors in the east wing. A look at the map showed charms, transfiguration, and arithmancy on the first floor, Dark Arts (which they were both surprised to see in a supposedly "Light" family's library), Defense, and runes on the second, and history, fiction, and everything else on the third. It was quite an expansive collection, to say the least. There also wasn't much to clean as the library had several spells and wards to protect the collection.

They continued on their way to the master's floor, only getting held up twice – once by a boggart that didn't shift properly due to both of them being so close together, and once by a lethifold that a quick _expecto patronum_ got rid of. By the time they reached their rooms on the sixth floor, it was mid-afternoon and they were very tired. Neither the study nor the drawing room held any nasty surprises, so a few quick cleaning spells later and they had taken care of the major parts and quite a few not-so-major parts of the manor.

They fell on top of the covers fully clothed and were asleep within minutes.

* * *

Harry woke to the sound of tapping on the window, and had an odd sense of déjà vu.

Draco shifted and rolled over, pulling the pillow over his head. "Go open the bloody window Harry. They won't stop until you do."

Harry grumbled but rolled out of bed to go to the window. Hedwig and an owl Harry recognized as Hermes were waiting not-so-patiently on the sill. He quickly opened the window, and the two owls gracefully flew in. Hedwig perched on his shoulder while Hermes flew over to Draco, nipping him on his exposed hand to wake him up.

Draco tried to push the bird away but failed, and after a second nip conceded defeat and sat up. "Bloody owl, waking me up in such a way. You're lucky I care about you so much, otherwise you'd be stuffed and put over our fireplace." Hermes just gave him a look, and Draco sighed and pet his feathers. '_Bloody owl. Honestly, if he wasn't one of my best friends and confidants I would have had him stuffed years ago.'_

Harry grinned at Draco's silent comment. "Oh, I don't know Draco; he seems like one of the few beings who could give you a run for your money."

Draco, realizing he had been heard, blushed a little and said, "Well then, I've got to give Hedwig props for putting up with you for five years. Merlin knows _that_ is no easy feat. You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd almost think these two were our familiars, what with how compatible we are and the way we interact with them."

Harry looked at him in curiosity. "How would we know if they were or weren't?"

Draco made himself more comfortable on the bed and continued petting Hermes' feathers. "Well, you'd have to connect with them on a deeper level than most people would connect with an animal. You know, be able to tell each other's emotions and interact to a greater degree than anyone else would be able to."

'_Check._' Harry thought.

"You would have to be able to know, to a certain degree, how the other is, and what they need, like a small comfort or something like that."

'_Check._' Draco was now looking thoughtful.

"You know, the only thing we're really missing is a bond. We've probably already been giving small amounts of our magic to them, and that means they are highly compatible with us, enough to be our familiars if we so choose." A memory suddenly flashed in Harry's mind.

"Do you remember that day I bailed on History of Magic because Hedwig was hurt?" Draco thought for a moment, and Harry pushed his memory of the day through their newly-strengthened bond. Draco nodded as his own memories of the day came back to him. "Yeah, now I remember. I heard about it from Pansy, but she didn't have any details. What happened?"

Harry scowled. "Umbitch decided that my mail wasn't private anymore, and Hedwig got hurt when the toad captured her. Her wing was messed up – perhaps broken, but it wasn't a severe break. All I know is that Professor Grubbly-Planck had her fixed in a jiffy. I always thought that her injury should have been more severe. Do you think that could have been because of me, because of my magic?"

Draco nodded. "It's quite possible. It's kind of odd, though. For an animal to be able to take our magic the way Hedwig and Hermes have been doing, they would have to have a few drops of magical blood in them, otherwise they would have had odd side effects. I wonder where it could have come from."

While they were contemplating the possibility of being able to bond with their owls as familiars, Harry noticed a letter that had previously gone unnoticed bound to Hermes leg. Harry pointed it out to Draco, and he quickly untied it from his owl's leg. Draco smiled when he saw who it was from.

"It's from Pansy. Looks like you knew better than I did where to go while I was on the move, didn't you boy?" Hermes nuzzled into his hand in an affirmative response. Draco and Harry chuckled at the owl's antics.

Harry went to sit in the chair to give Draco some privacy, but Draco beckoned him to read over his shoulder. Harry readily complied and sat next to Draco on the bed.

_Dearest Draco,_

_I hope this letter finds you well and that you are no worse off than I. My father is in a bit of a snit over my wishes to skip our next special occasion, and I hope that you have managed to avoid arousing similar passions in your own father. He is forcing me to go, despite my express wishes to at the least wait until next year._

_I have missed your company these past weeks, and I would love if I could come for a visit sometime soon. We have some catching up to do. If you could send me your reply by owl as soon as is possible for you, as my father is to be out until the 14__th__ of August and that is the day of our special occasion. I would be most grateful of your reply._

_Your loving friend,_

_Pansy_

Even Harry could break the hastily thrown together code on the letter, and the emotions coming off of it just strengthened his conclusion. Pansy was in the same situation Draco had been in. Her father was going to force her to get the mark, and she didn't have as much of an opportunity of escaping. She was, after all, a young unmarried female in a traditional – perhaps overly so – pureblood household. She must have deduced that Draco had found a way out, and was sending this letter to ask for his help in getting out and breaking free of the stigma of the Mark. This was not going to be easy.

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "So, how are we gonna pull this off? Breaking and entering, leading up to a kidnapping?"

Draco sighed and copied Harry's previous gesture. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's our best bet. It would have gone around the Death Eater's circle that I am a persona non grata, and her parents would never let me into the house – nor her out of it, judging by this letter. But, I've been over to her house more than enough times to know the layout well enough to get around without being obvious about our presence. Your invisibility cloak will be coming in handy, and a few extra disillusionment charms would not go awry. We can't plan as well as I would like though. Too many possible variables – again." He sighed even more deeply. "I really wish life wasn't full of quite so many variables."

Harry sighed and then said, "Well there are a few things we _can_ plan. Like how we're going to get in, how we're gonna get out, and what we're going to do while we're in there."

Draco sat up straighter on the bed and thought this out deeply, Harry doing the same beside him. Draco voiced his ideas first.

"We could simply apparate just outside the wards of the property. There's a secret passageway Pansy showed me when we were younger. It isn't quite as tightly warded as the rest of the property to allow for an easier emergency escape, but it also allows for an easier entry. I'll get us to Pansy's room, disguise her, and grab whatever she's packed by that time. Being well-versed in the art of subterfuge, she'll know exactly what and how much to pack to allow for an efficient escape. You'll be keeping watch for any unwanted visitors. Then – hopefully – we'll be able to get out the same way we got in."

Harry nodded in agreement. But, a possibility suddenly hit him. "What if there's Death Eaters prowling about? What if we're seen and an alarm is raised?"

Draco frowned at that. "Well, if that happens then we'll just have to run like the hell hounds are on our heels. Hopefully we'll be able to avoid any confrontations, but if we absolutely can't, then we'll just have to fight like hell." He paused and frowned at Harry. "And no Harry, you won't even think about going snooping for some info on the likelihood of Death Eaters being present. Am I clear?"

Harry nodded and blushed a little while frowning slightly. '_Damn it, why not. It wouldn't hurt – well, not that much. It would help, why is he stopping me? Doesn't he trust me?'_ Draco broke into Harry's darkening thoughts, frowning a little himself. "I don't want to see you hurt like that Harry, I've seen enough from your memories. It would hurt both of us too much, and the slight gain isn't worth it." Harry's frown softened and he put his arm comfortingly around Draco's shoulders in a silent promise. Draco understood.

Draco ran his hand through his hair again, and it was surprising that his hair still looked as perfect as ever. If Harry had done that with the same ferocity, his hair would be sticking up even more than it already did.

Draco's voice broke into his somewhat distracted musings, and judging by the slight smirk on his face he knew exactly what Harry had been thinking. "You know, I remember something from my ancient runes class about being able to modify clothing or material by sewing or specially marking it using certain runes. I could look it up in the library and modify two of our cloaks – perhaps more for later – and have us use them." He broke off in thought. "Hmm. A few protection runes – and some concealment runes couldn't hurt. And some way to activate them at will. I'll hit the books tomorrow. For right now, we need to send a reply to Pansy."

He went over to the desk he had silently claimed as his by placing his stationary in. He pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some charmed sealing wax. If the letter was tampered with, it would be impossible to reseal it, and the true recipient would know and be warned. He set the wax to warming and started on his letter, Harry leaning on his hip against the desk.

_Pansy,_

_I too have been missing your company these past weeks, and I would be delighted if you would come for a visit. I have yet to set a date with my host, but you would do well to begin packing. I suspect it will be soon, and we both know how you get when you pack!_

_I expect we will have much catching up to do when we meet, and I would love to introduce you to my host. He is quite the man – and no, I won't tell you who he is or anything about him until you meet him in person. I'm sure you'll get quite the impression._

_With love,_

_Draco_

Harry and Draco read it over, and then Harry said, "Very nice. A bit obvious for my tastes, but only Pansy will understand the full scope of what's being said. Unless someone knows the contents of the first letter from Pansy, they won't be any the wiser to what's really going on."

Draco folded and sealed the letter, but refrained from pressing his ring into the wax as was customary. After all, neither of them wanted that secret getting out too soon. It may have been centuries since the Le Fay ring or insignia have been seen, but there was still the chance that it may be recognized. Instead, he asked Harry to press the Black ring into the seal, as it would have been his lordship had Harry not accepted, and no one would be surprised at seeing it as the seal to one of his letters.

After the wax had fully cooled he turned to Hermes, who flew over to the desk and boredly held out his leg for Draco to tie the letter to it. Once it was tied securely, Harry held open the window for Hermes to fly through. On the way out he cuffed Harry with his wing, then flew in a southerly direction toward Pansy's manor. Harry rubbed the back of his head in disbelief as he flew off.

"It means he likes you and approves of you, you know."

Harry turned his attention back to his boyfriend. '_Hmm, I like the sound of that. Boyfriend. Now that I think of that, we haven't even gone on a first date. I'll have to take care of that soon. He deserves better._' Luckily, he had remembered to keep his mental musings away from their link and Draco was none the wiser to his plans and ideas on rectifying this problem. He grinned a little before returning to reality.

"Huh?"

"When Hermes cuffed you. It means he likes you and approves of whatever we've got going. He did that to Pansy, my mother, and even me once he approved of us." He grinned a little. "Welcome to the club. Membership fees include at least one kiss every morning, noon, and night. If you happen to miss your payment, it must be paid twofold at the earliest possible convenience."

Harry grinned as well and joined in on the fun. "I hope that membership fee is only for me, Mr. Le Fay. I would think the other members would only have to pay in the form of a hug at the time of membership." Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's waist. "After all, I do not share."

Draco leaned in close and put his arms around Harry's shoulders. "Well, I'll have to see what I can do. Until then, I do believe payment is in order?"

Harry chuckled and then leaned in and kissed him. After all, he wouldn't want to miss a payment, would he?

* * *

**AN:** So what did you guys think? The ending just hit me, and was totally cute, so i just threw it in there to lighten things up a bit. As always, if you have a question just PM me or tell me in a review. I'll answer to the best of my abilities, and try not to give away any plot points.

So, until the next update! TTFN


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** Two words: WRITER'S BLOCK! 'nuff said. It just jumped me, I swear! BUT, you can thank "SING" by My Chemical Romance for getting my muses to finally clock in again. ;)

Anyway, for those of you who have stuck around, thanks for hangin' in there! It means a lot to me. :)

Oh, and for a certain aspect of their disguise introduced in this chapter, it plays a special part later in the story, so it isn't randomly thrown in there for no good reason.

Warnings: See previous chapters.

Enjoy the new installment of _Black, White, and Grey_.

'_Blah_' – Harry's thoughts

'_Blah_' – Draco's thoughts

* * *

**Black, White, and Gray**

Chapter 9: A Breakout

The next morning found them in the library after their usual morning exercises, which had been somewhat neglected over the past few days. Draco was hidden behind a stack of runes books, while Harry was leafing through a few defense books in search of any potentially useful spells. They would need all the help they could get if it came down to a fight.

Harry glanced up from his reading to the wall of books that hid his boyfriend. "Find anything useful yet?"

He heard a rustle and Draco appeared from behind the stack. "Yeah. I've actually found the runes I need, now I just need to finish balancing the scheme and I'll be able to sew them into two of our good cloaks – the dragon hide ones would be best, as they already have some of the properties we need and they'll hold the magic best."

Harry nodded while cross referencing a spell. "Yeah, I can see how that would work. Plus, we would be able to wear them in everyday use and still be protected with just a word." He smirked. "I knew there was more to you than just a pretty face."

Draco hit him on the back of the head for that comment. "When you're done exalting my virtues, you can tell me what you've come up with so far."

Harry shoved his notes at him while pulling another book towards himself. "Those are pretty much the ones that I've found that we can learn in a reasonable amount of time that may actually be useful. When we're through here, we can go find a mostly empty room to practice in. Hopefully they won't take an obscene amount of time to learn."

Draco looked over the list, and agreed with Harry's assessments. These shouldn't be overly hard to learn, but could still be quite useful in combat situations. "I agree. As soon as I get this scheme balanced properly, we'll go hunt down two of our cloaks and sew in the runes. One of them will have to be keyed to you, so follow my instructions when the time comes." He paused for a moment. "Uh, I know this seems kind of random, but even though I added a small shadowing feature into the rune scheme to help hide our identities, I would prefer if we took an extra precaution. Would you mind if we wore masks?"

Harry looked at him with one eyebrow cocked, silently asking for an explanation. "I know it seems kind of odd, but no modification would be able to hide our faces properly. A miscast spell or sudden movement could knock our hood back or mess with the runes, and even a slight flash could give us away. Its part of the reason that even the Death Eaters wear masks despite the hoods. The rest of it is simply intimidation factor."

Harry leaned back while thinking it over. "Hmm. And there's nothing we could do to correct that?" Draco shook his head. "Nothing. It doesn't have to be full-face like what the DE's wear, but it would be better protection than just the cloaks. We can enchant them to attach to our faces, and only we would be able to remove them. No one would know who we were if they couldn't see most of our face."

Harry nodded in agreement to this precaution, and Draco sighed in relief. "Well, now I feel better about our identities being protected more thoroughly. Let me finish balancing these runes, and we'll go in search of our cloaks and a room to practice in."

Harry started putting the books away while Draco finished up with runes. When he sent the last of the books to their place, he turned back and saw Draco finish the runes with a flourish.

Draco rolled up the parchment and turned back to Harry. "Come on. I've got to find some gold thread while you go get two of our dragon hide cloaks. Meet me in the Master's study?"

Harry nodded and left the library, Draco right behind him. They went in opposite directions in their search for materials, but half an hour later found them in the Master's study with the necessary items for the runework. Draco diligently began sewing in the runes, Harry contributing a drop of blood when necessary. Draco repeated the process for himself, and two hours after starting the two cloaks were done. They were of black dragon hide, and with the extra infusion of magic they seemed to both absorb the light and shimmer at the same time. After a quick test using a few offensive spells, they were pronounced perfect.

Draco leaned back, rubbing his neck to get some of the stress kinks out. Harry moved to stand behind him and took over the massage. Draco sighed contentedly. "Thank Merlin that's taken care of. Let's head down for some lunch before we start on those spells." Harry nodded and left to put away the cloaks. They headed downstairs and ate a hearty lunch in preparation for the strenuous afternoon.

They went over the notes Harry had taken on the spells while they ate, thoroughly getting to know them before heading back upstairs. They cleaned up when they were done, and headed to the fourth floor to check out what they suspected to be a dueling room. Had they had more time the previous day they would have searched more thoroughly, but they were already tired when they hit this wing of the fourth floor, so they left the exploration to today.

It turns out they were right, and the room not only served the purpose of practicing spell work, but also of practicing swordsmanship and knife wielding. That is, if the array of weaponry on the walls had any say in it. They turned to each other, both thinking along the same lines.

Draco spoke first. "What do you think Harry? Should we practice with blades as well? Many wizards rely on magic more than close physical combat. If we incorporate knives into our arsenal, we could harm without using magic – even from a distance, since most shields only block the magical force of a spell. This could be very useful. If we lose our wands or are in a magically unstable environment, we can still fight."

Harry nodded, realizing suddenly that he nodded way too often around Draco. '_Ah, well. That's what I get when I hang around with an academic over-achiever with a great deal of common sense. I really know how to pick 'em._' He grinned a little and refocused on what Draco was saying.

"Well then, I guess when we take a break from the spell work we can practice with the blades. I know most of the basics in swordsmanship, so I can get you started with that, but the knives – particularly throwing knives – I have less experience with, so we'll need to do a bit more research on that. But that field is mostly you getting a feel for the weapon and handling it in your own way, so if we can just get the basics down then we'll be good."

Draco turned and walked to a chair at the end of the room, taking off his over shirt and turning back toward Harry in the dueling position, wand drawn. "Show me what you've got."

They spent most of the afternoon dueling and practicing spell work after a few weeks of no magic use. They were a bit rusty in the beginning, but soon they had spells flying in a dizzying array of colors. This time, they decided to end at a draw. After their practice duel, they turned to the notes Harry had taken. Most of the spells were just on the upper end of their levels, so they took a bit longer than they would have liked, but the spells were too useful to pass up.

When they decided they had had enough of spells for the day, they headed downstairs for dinner, exchanging small talk and minor plans for the summer over their meal. They also decided to alternate spell work and working with the blades between the morning and afternoons, and to throw in hand-to-hand training as well. Harry had the most real-life experience in that thanks to Dudley. When they had finished and washed up, they headed upstairs and crashed on their bed after their nightly adulations, too tired to do much else than hold each other as they slept.

* * *

The pattern continued for the rest of the week. Harry discovered he had an aptitude for blade work, fast-tracking the process and earning him many rewards from Draco when he moved on to the next point in their training. He greatly enjoyed those. Draco even taught him to use his blades with both hands, so he would be able to cast and use his sword at the same time. Being ambidextrous, Draco had an advantage in that field. They also went through in a little wand-less training, to be able to summon their wands and blades to them. It was a small thing and easy enough to learn. Draco also made sure to remove the ministry trackers from Harry's wand within the week.

They even got around to having their first real date. Harry surprised his boyfriend by taking him to a quant Italian restaurant at a bustling town that wasn't overly far from the property. They enjoyed an evening where they didn't have to cook or worry about the wider world. Draco made doubly sure to reward his boyfriend heartily for his caring thought. Harry had a goofy grin on his face for _hours_.

But the week's timeframe they had given themselves came to an end all too quickly. That evening found them in their room preparing for the fight they were sure was heading their way. Their luck just wasn't good enough to avoid one.

Harry fastened his cloak securely in front of the mirror, Draco doing the same next to him. They took comfort in their closeness. They had said those three little words before, but this time it went unspoken. They didn't need it to be.

Draco's hand fell from his cloak clasp. "Do you really think we can do this, Harry?"

Harry took his hands away from where they had been fiddling with the fastening and wrapped them around Draco's waist, meeting his eyes in the mirror. "Of course we can. We've got Slytherin guile mixed with Gryffindor bravery and the combined stubbornness of both. We'll even have an extra hand once we get Pansy. She'll still be able to fight from under the cloak if worse comes to worse. We'll _all _make it out Draco. I promise. _And_ we'll kick ass while doing it."

That finally got Draco to smile, and dispelled the dark cloud that had been hanging around him for the past few hours. He stepped away from the mirror, taking a good look at what Harry was wearing. He had on black leather pants that Draco had given him earlier; they were a perfect fit. His black shirt was well-fitted, just loose enough to allow a full range of movement. He had his throwing knives and a dagger concealed at his belt, his wand holstered on his forearm. He was also wearing army-issue combat boots they had picked up at the town. Draco was an exact match to him, nearly down to the fastenings on their cloaks. To cover all their bases, they even had a shrunken sword belted at their waists, activated at will that they had found in the Dueling Room. If it wasn't for the hair, they would have looked the same from a distance.

Draco quashed down the small flare of lust that rose up and walked out of the room, returning within moments with a box in his hands. Harry stared at him curiously. "What's in there?"

"Our masks." He lifted the lid to reveal two masks, one a shining black and the other an oh-so-slightly-shimmering off-white. Handing the black to Harry, he activated his own and attached it to his face. After making sure it fit right, he pulled out his dagger and cut his finger, letting the blood fall on the forehead of his mask and be absorbed, forever tying it to his command and his command only. He watched as Harry did the same next to him.

The masks came up to their hairline, completely covering their foreheads – and by extension Harry's scar. Even though that section of the mask was covered by hair, it didn't hurt to make sure it wouldn't be seen. The masks stopped just at the upper curve of their cheekbones, and on the sides of their face – just at the line where jaw met ear – was a half-inch strip for stability and increased protection. The eyeholes were the perfect shape to allow a full range of sight. Overall, the effect was one of total identity concealment. He was quite pleased with his work, to say the least.

Harry checked himself out in the mirror. "Wow," Harry started, "With the top half of my face covered, I don't even recognize myself. Very nice."

Draco smiled, pleased that Harry appreciated it. He glanced at the clock over the mantle, Harry following his gaze. It read a quarter past nine. Time to go.

He flipped his hood up and activated the shadowing feature, Harry doing the same as they walked out the door. They had decided to use the floo in the study versus the one in the bedroom, and Draco gripped Harry around the waist as he called out the nearest town to Pansy's manor.

They were thrown out the floo at the only public fireplace in the town, Draco's tight grip on Harry's waist the only thing preventing Harry from meeting the floor face first. '_Shut up._' Draco grinned at him. '_I said nothing. But I'll admit I wanted to._' Harry just grumbled quietly and walked out of the pub, Draco following close behind.

They walked into a small side alley, and Draco once again gripped Harry's waist as he apparated them to just outside of the Parkinsons' wards.

* * *

They arrived in a wooded area, although it wasn't heavily so. Several yards away stood the low wall of the Parkinson's back field. They could see the vast landscape of the property, the manor visible at the top of a nearby hill. It looked smaller than Potter manor, indicating the slightly lower status of the Parkinsons to the Malfoys or Potters.

Draco walked slowly at the perimeter, searching for the opening in the wards and the right section of wall for entry. He felt the shift in the wards before he saw the right section of wall. He beckoned Harry over and gripped his arm, pulling him through the wards after he carefully widened the hole.

They pulled themselves over the wall, wary of using magic yet. They stole through the fields and flower bushes, coming up to the gates of the back garden of the manor. Harry carefully eased them open, relieved that they opened soundlessly and rushed through, leaving them only slightly open for a quicker escape. They raced up to the back steps of the manor, easing open that door as well before quickly rushing through and closing it carefully behind them.

Draco led the way up the stairs and toward the west wing, making sure to avoid the often-used hallways. Until proven otherwise, they would act as if Death Eaters were in the house. They reached Pansy's room with, in their eyes, with too few hold-ups or problems to be a good sign.

There was a low light filtering from under the door, so at least they didn't have to worry about having to wake Pansy and risk startling her. Draco, being keyed into the wards on her room, touched the handle for a moment before opening the door to allow the wards to recognize him. He was very glad that Pansy had put her foot down when she was younger about controlling the wards of her room. He quickly grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him through the door, shutting the door quietly but quickly behind them.

Pansy had looked up from her book when she felt the wards shift and heard the door knob click. She watched as the two figures swiftly came into her room and closed the door behind them, keeping a tight grip on her wand. Then they turned to face her, and paused for a moment, taking in her defensive posture.

They shared a glance. '_Shall we?'_ '_I think only me first. We should keep any knowledge of your involvement low, and they would expect me to be involved in her escape, but not you. It'll cause less of a fuss if _I_ am known versus you._' Harry nodded and stepped back slightly, giving Draco the floor.

He stepped forward and flipped back his hood, his distinctive Malfoy coloring and 'Draco' hairstyle on display. Pansy gasped slightly when she took him in. "Now, is that any way to treat your best friend?"

Pansy looked like she wanted to run forward and hug him tightly, but her sense of self-preservation was stronger. "Why did you come to me crying on _that_ day?" Draco sighed, and Harry brushed his hand against his back, both knowing which conversation she was talking about.

"I came to you crying because I thought no one loved me enough to stop it all." Pansy ran forward and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug, a few tears escaping and running down her cheeks.

"You have no idea how worried I was! You're wanted dead or alive by the Death Eaters, would probably be killed or used harshly by the Ministry and Dumbledore, and you couldn't even send me a 'hi, just so you know I'm not dead or anything' letter? That's the first thing I thought had happened to you when I saw Hermes without a letter! I swear, if you ever do something like that again, you'll have me to answer to!" Draco just hugged her tighter.

Harry smiled at the scene they made. '_I like her. She knows how to keep you in line._' '_Shut up Harry._' Harry snickered quietly. '_Love you too_.' Draco grinned.

Pansy pulled herself away from Draco, rubbing away the tears that had escaped. "I guess now is my jailbreak. How are we doing this? Oh, and just so you know, there is an inner circle and higher ranking Death Eater meeting going on in the main Dining Hall."

Harry and Draco groaned. '_Leave it to Pansy to nonchalantly throw that out there as if it was an afterthought. What are we going to do now?_' '_Fuck, did they have to be inner circle and high rankers? Oh well, we'll stick to the plan, and do our best to avoid the Death Eaters. If an alarm is raised and it comes to a fight, we fight and kick some major DE ass._' Draco grinned a little.

Pansy watched the silent conversation – obvious in the way their eyes met and their slight movements. Curiosity flowed strongly in her as she wondered who this mysterious benefactor was, and what was going on between them. Oh well, there was time for that later.

Draco turned back to face her. "We'll go out the same way we came in, through the back door that leads to the escape opening in the wards. It'll take us a bit closer to the dining hall than I would like, but it's better than going out any of the other doors. There won't be any other openings we can exploit."

Pansy nodded, and then said, "I'll go grab my stuff. I'll be back in a bit." While she went to go grab her stuff, Harry reached into the small bag attached to his belt and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Thank Merlin for space expansion charms.

When she returned with her shrunken trunks attached to her inner pockets for security, Harry handed her the cloak. She felt the material in surprise. "An invisibility cloak?" Draco nodded. "That, plus a disillusionment charm. We don't want them to know that we're here for _you_, and you won't be a target for spells if you can't be seen. May I?"

Pansy nodded, and Draco pulled out his wand to cast the charm before throwing the cloak over her. "Keep close, I need to feel you there. If things get rough I want you to run and go to the secret escape route – you know which one. Get off the property and apparate to the public floo in the nearest town. Wait there. If we're not back in a reasonable amount of time, floo to 'Snake's Pride' – got it?"

'_I know we thought of her as an extra fighter, but I won't risk her, Harry. I can't._' Harry nodded slightly to show his understanding.

Pansy gripped his hand in affirmation as Draco flipped up his hood, and at the all clear from Harry they went down the hallway to the stairs, being careful not to make a sound. They had gone down to the second-to-last flight of stairs when they finally hit a snag.

Waiting at the junction was a Death Eater standing guard, waiting for them. He grinned maliciously. "You didn't think you could enter and leave this place unnoticed did you?" He sounded the alarm before they could stop him, and Draco subtly pushed Pansy away before the hallway was blocked. He felt her grip his hand tightly before she was gone.

They turned and faced the opposite end from where Pansy had fled, where the Death Eaters were just starting to make their way in. Spells started flying their way, and Harry had the shield up before Draco could blink. Draco snapped into combat mode, and started sending spells quickly through Harry's one-way shield. Only a few were caught by the spells, and even more started coming in from the meeting. Draco turned to make sure they weren't blocked from behind, and started pulling Harry backwards towards the stairs. He was well aware it may be a trap, but he didn't want to get caught in a corner like what would've happened if they had stood upstairs.

Harry kept up the shield while firing spells as he trusted Draco to be his eyes and keep him from falling. Draco reached the stairs, and seeing them clear pulled Harry's sleeve to signal him to follow his lead. Draco led him quickly down the stairs, having to start firing his own spells halfway down to stave off the few Death Eaters who had enough brains to try and cut them off by going around.

When they finally reached the ground floor they had to stave off fire from both directions as the Death Eaters went around to try to surround them, positioning themselves back-to-back to fight. The air was lit with a myriad of colors as they cast and dodged their way to the door they had entered the manor from. At least half the Death Eater contingent had been incapacitated by the time they reached the door. Draco ran to open it while Harry attempted to keep off the still large number of Death Eaters. Try as he did, a few still got through and Draco was forced to pull out his knife when one of them grabbed him from behind. He cut the tendons in his forearm, forcing the man to let him go. He then knocked him out with the butt of the handle.

That was when he saw what he really hoped they wouldn't run into. The Lestranges and his father with a few of the more prominent inner circle members were battering down Harry's shield, and he could tell Harry was almost out of juice. He threw the doors open, running back to take his place at Harry's side. Yanking Harry behind him, he began chain casting a myriad of offensive spells while keeping a one-way shield up. Harry caught his second wind and began casting his own offensive spells while pulling Draco backwards out the door.

The Death Eaters followed them out, inner circle members in the lead. They simply turned and ran, dodging spells and casting over their shoulders as they jumped over bushes and low decorative walls toward the gates Pansy had left open for them. Dirt flew into the air as the DE's shot off a few too-close-for-comfort blasting hexes.

They dashed through the gates, not stopping to close them. They continued running, occasionally turning to get a better shot at their assailants. After what seemed like an age of running, the wall they had entered over came into view. They clambered over it in record time, but Draco caught a cutting hex to the side while going over. He stumbled on the other side, trying to regain his focus and balance through the pain and increasing blood loss. Harry came up on the uninjured side, picking him up bridal style to avoid aggravating the wound and thanking his stars for Draco's lithe frame and his own weight training.

He continued running while talking to Draco. "Focus, Dray. I need you to focus on the alley near the floo and I'll apparate us there." Draco pulled up his memory and forced it over the link, focusing through the haze. Harry concentrated and with a pop they were at the alley, just as he saw the Death Eaters glide over the walls.

He thanked whatever gods were listening that it was late enough that no one was in the streets, running to the 'abandoned' pub and the floo. Whispering his destination for safety, he threw the powder on the fire and stepped through, stumbling out to a worried Pansy on the other side.

"I've got potions." Harry nodded in thanks and picked Draco up again and led the way to the room. Draco was nearly out from the blood loss – staying awake from sheer stubbornness – but he had to close the wound before he could take care of the blood loss. Pansy gave him the necessary potion and he poured it over the wound, saying the proper spell over it once it was thoroughly coated. He watched to make sure the wound closed properly, and then gave Draco the blood replenisher Pansy handed to him. He then undressed him down to his boxers, said a cleaning spell that – while no substitute for a shower – would get the job done.

He turned to Pansy. "Thank you for your help." Pansy shrugged while gazing concerned at Draco. "He's my best friend. You look dead on your feet, so I won't trouble you any longer and make my bed on the couch. You can show me whatever room is to be mine _tomorrow_. You will go to sleep now, no arguments, understood? Everything else – including my vast amounts of questions – can be taken care of tomorrow."

Harry nodded tiredly, not willing to argue with her now. She turned and entered the study, shutting the door behind her. Harry returned to his own room, repeated the process of stripping and a cleaning charm and removed their masks, placing them in the box Draco had left next to the mirror. He then climbed into bed beside Draco, smiling when Draco wrapped his arms around him and pillowed his head on his chest.

He placed a gentle kiss on his boyfriend's forehead and was asleep within minutes.

* * *

**AN:** So what did you guys think? I swear, these chapters are getting longer and longer. :P Anyway, those of you kind enough to drop a review on the way out I thank heartily in advance. Any constructive criticism or the pointing out of major plot holes I somehow missed is very much appreciated.

So, my lovelies, until next time! Toodles!

~CM~


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